
Class _&_Nj_l_ 
Book„ * 3 7 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




MAN 






PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE 



A POPULAR ACCOUNT Oh THE 



Results of Recent Scientific Research 



REGARDING THE 



ORIGIN, POSITION AND PROSPECTS OF MANKIND. 



FROM THE GERMAN OF 

Dr. LUDWIG BUCHNER, 

AUTHOR OF "FORCE AND MATTER," "ESSAYS ON NATURE AND SCIENCE, 
"PHYSIOLOGICAL PICTURES," "SIX LECTURES O.M DAKWIN," ETC. 



In the past, man appeared to be a creature foreign to the earth, and placed 
upon it as a transitory inhabitant by some incomprehensible power. The 
more perfect insight of the present day sees man as a being whose develop- 
ment has taken place in accordance with the same laws that have governed 
the development of the earth and its entire organization — a being not put 
upon the earth accidentally by an arbitrary act, but produced in harmony 
with the earth's nature, and belonging to it as do the flowers and fruits to 
the tree which bears them. — Prof. Perty. 



New York: 

PETER ECKLER, PUBLISHER, 

35 Fulton Street. 






r K 




1 



:\ 



> 



Copyrighted, 1894, by Peter Eckler. 



PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. 



AMONG the popular scientific writers of the present day 
in Germany, Dr. Biichner stands pre-eminently in the 
foremost rank, and the publisher of the present translation of 
his able work, which defines the Positio?i of Man in Nature, 
takes great pleasure in placing it before the American public, 
at a price so reasonable that it brings it within the reach of all 
classes. 

A number of engravings, which have not appeared in former 
editions of this work, have now been added, to assist in illus- 
trating the text. 

Theologians, and naturalists whose scientific views are in 
accord with the so-called sacred revelations, have long con- 
tended for the specific unity of the human race, — a race des- 
tined, as they believe, to an eternal existence after this life, — 
whilst all other sentient beings are doomed by them to anni- 
hilation and oblivion. But Dr. Biichner teaches us a more 
equitable and righteous doctrine. He grandly broadens and 
enlarges this unjust and restricted view, and ably contends, 
not only for the unity of the human race, but also for the unity 
of all races that exist, — indeed, we may say, for the unity of the 
universe. He sees that man has risen from the lowest position 
to his present exalted state, by the slow and gradual process 
of evolution — that "in the animal as in man, the eye serves for 
vision, the ear for hearing, the tongue for tasting, the stomach 
for digestion, and the liver for the secretion of bile ; the feet 
serve for locomotion, the lungs for breathing, the kidneys for 
the separation of water, etc. By means of chloroform the ani- 



IV PUBLISHER S PREFACE. 

mal is stupefied just like the man — they live, sicken and die 
by the same processes and causes." 

The same thought ' ' concerning the estate of the sons of 
men' ' is even more tersely expressed by the author of Ecclesi- 
astes ; or, the Preacher, chap, iii, verses 19 and 20 : 

' ' For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts ; 
even one thing befalleth them : as the one dieth, so dieth the 
the other ; yea, they have all one breath ; so that a man hath 
no pre-eminence above a beast : for all is vanity. 

' ' All go unto one place ; all are of the dust, and all turn to 
dust again." 

Whilst many animals excel man in strength, courage, swiftness 
and endurance, he has nevertheless attained an ascendency over 
them by his superior reasoning powers, which result from the 
exercise of his larger and more perfectly developed brain. But 
even if he possesses the power to govern, it gives him no right 
to abuse that power. Justice and mercy should prompt him to 
act as the friend, not the persecutor of the inferior races. And 
above all, he should cease to ruthlessly destroy, for so-called 
sport and pastime, the lives of innocent animals — lives which 
are their only possession — and which it is impossible for him 
to again restore. 

We are told in Clarke's Travels, vol. IV., page 544, that a 
traveller, alighting from his horse, killed a serpent which 
was crossing the way. Carrying it to the ambassador, who 
was seated in his Arabah, he received a mild but pointed re- 
proof against the wantonness of depriving an animal unnecessa- 
rily of life. "Bey Zedeh," said he, "had that poor serpent 
done any thing to injure you ? Are you the happier because 
you have deprived it of life ? Do not carry with you a proof 
of your cruelty ; it may be unlucky : the same Power who 
made you created also the serpent ; and surely there was room 
enough in this wilderness for both of you." 

PETER ECKLER. 



PREFACE. 



THE following book has resulted from a series of public 
discourses by the author upon the great scientific dis- 
coveries of recent times with regard to the Antiquity and 
Origin of the Human race, and the Position of Ma?i in 
Nature. 

The great and almost unexampled interest in the subject, 
and its importance in the development and further evolution 
of our general conception of the. Universe and of life, from the 
point of view of philosophical realism, (an importance which 
is still far from being sufficiently acknowledged), will justify 
the author in abstaining from any prefatory explanation of 
his motives in deciding to communicate in the present com- 
pilation, the essential parts of these discourses to , a more 
distant or larger public, in a form suited for general compre- 
hension. 

In order to avoid confusion by the particularly copious 
abundance of materials at hand, the author has arranged the 
actual, or more exact proof of what is given in the Text, 
(consisting of quotations, scientific details, and further partic- 
ulars or remarks,) in a separate Appendix , brought into con- 
nection with the Text by continuous numbers, and also in a 
series of foot notes. He hopes that this method will augment 
the scientific value of the book without injuring its usefulness 
with the general public, to whose wants he has paid par- 
ticular attention in the text itself. 

(5) 



VI PREFACE. 

The extraordinary favor which the public has hitherto man- 
ifested towards all the literary productions of the author with- 
out exception, and which has been his principal incitement to 
proceed in the same course will, he hopes, not be wanting to 
this new book, the principal tendency of which is towards 
culture and intellectual progress. The author believes that he 
is the more justified in this expectation, since the book con- 
tains in its second, section a popular exposition of one of the 
most prominent questions of the day — a question which, in 
the last few years, has excited the minds of men in a most 
remarkable manner. This question, which has been so often 
misunderstood, and answered in the most varied forms, 
relates to the Ape-genealogy of man as it has been called. 
If the author should succeed by means of credible and scien- 
tific evidence in diffusing correct views, free from prejudice 
and ignorance, and resting upon the truths of nature in 
regard to this new doctrine which has called forth so much 
opposition, this result alone will appear to him of sufficient 
importance to compensate for the trouble which he has be- 
stowed upon the subject. 

No doubt in this, as in former cases, there will be no lack 
of those opponents and calumniators who seek to displace 
light by darkness, truth by falsehood, and facts by phrases. 
The author, who has neither time, leisure nor inclination for 
futile polemics, thinks that he cannot meet such opponents 
better than by closing his preface with the following passages 
from an English writer, who has so brilliantly and resolutely 
defended the author's standpoint against his own assailants 
and censurers, that it is unnecessary to add a single word to 
what he has said. 

" There is nothing more frequent," says David Page, {Man, 
&c. , Edingburgh, 1867), "than denunciations from the pulpit 
and platform against the tendencies of modern science, by 
men who are not only ignorant of the rudiments of science, 



PREFACE. VII 

but who have bound themselves by creeds and formulas before 
their minds were matured enough or their knowledge sufficient 
to discriminate between the essentials and non-essentials of 
these restrictions. And here it may be remarked, once for all, 
that no man who has subscribed to creeds and formulas, either 
in theology or philosophy, can be an unbiased investigator of 
the truth, or an unprejudiced judge of the opinions of others. 
His sworn preconceptions warp his discernment, and ad- 
herence to his sect or party engenders intolerance to the honest 
convictions of other enquirers. 

" Beliefs we may and must have, but a belief to be changed 
with new and advancing knowledge impedes no progress, 
while a creed subscribed to as ultimate truth and sworn to be 
defended, not only puts a bar to further research, but as a con- 
sequence, throws the odium of distrust on all that may seem to 
oppose it. Even when such odium cannot deter, it annoys 
and irritates ; hence the frequent unwillingness of men of 
science to come prominently forward with the avowal of their 
beliefs. 

" It is time this delicacy were thrown aside, and such theo- 
logians plainly told that the skepticism and infidelity — if 
skepticism and infidelity there be — lies all on their own side. 
There is no skepticism so offensive as that which doubts the 
facts of honest and careful observation, — no infidelity so gross 
as that which disbelieves the deductions of competent and 
unbiased judgments." 

These golden words deserve to be engraved on metal 
and displayed in all Churches, Lecture-halls and Editorial 
rooms. 



Postscript to the English Edition. 



ON the appearance of this English edition of his book on 
the Position of Man in Nature, the author thinks it 
necessary to express to the English Public his regret, that he 
was unable, in the preparation of its second section, to make 
use of the admirable arguments upon this subject, which have 
recently been published in England by the distinguished nat- 
uralist Darwin, in his book upon the Descent of Man. This 
was impossible, as the printing of the greater part of the 
translation was already completed when the work just men- 
tioned made its appearance. The author's regret at this cir- 
cumstance was however abundantly compensated by the sat- 
isfaction which he could not but feel when, on reading Darwin's 
work, he remarked the great and remarkable agreement 
between his views and those of the celebrated English 
naturalist, although he had been unable to arrive at any 
definite opinion upon the subject in question from Darwin's 
previous writings. Quite independently of any personal feel- 
ing, this circumstance may serve as a proof how completely a 
correct interpretation of facts, and consistent and unprejudiced 
thought in scientific matters, but especially in Natural History, 
must lead to the same clear and simple results, no matter in 
what brain the necessary process of thought is carried on, or 
whether it is in England or in Germany, or in any other part 
of the civilized world. 

Dr. L. Buchner. 
Darmstadt, Febrziary, 18J2. 

(8) 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Process of human intellectual development, page 15. The question 
of the position of man in nature — the question of questions for man- 
kind, p. 17. Origin and genealogy of the human race, p. 18. Com- 
parison with the discovery of Copernicus, p. 19. Hackel's geocentric 
and anthropocentric errors, p. 19. Unfounded dread of the new dis- 
coveries, p. 20. Causes of former errors with regard to the position 
of man in nature, p. 21. Antiquity of the human race, p. 23. Crea- 
tion of man 6000 years ago, p. 23. 

OUR ORIGIN. 

Cave of Aurignac, page 25. J. Carver on the funeral ceremonies of 
a North American Indian Tribe, p. 30. Antediluvian, Alluvium, and 
Diluvium, p. 277. Cave-discoveries, p. 31. Old opinion as to the 
early state of man, p. 32. Fossil bones of animals regarded as those 
of man, p. 278. Cuvier on antediluvian man, p. 33. Fossils, p. 34. 
Boucher de Perthes and the discovery of flint axes in the Somme Val- 
ley, p. 35. Working in flint, p. 38. Flint implements the first human 
manufacture, p. 39. Flint axes beyond the Somme Valley, p. 41 J. 
Frere, p. 41. Lower jaw of Moulin-Quignon, p. 43. Other fossil re- 
mains of man, pp. 44, 46, and 279. Traces of human action on bones 
of extinct animals, p. 47. Pictures of extinct animals, pp. 48, 49, 
50. Similar discoveries in the Tertiaries, p. 52. Human remains in 
Alluvium, pp. 54, 279. Pile buildings, p. 280. Danish Peat-Mosses, 
p. 280. Mound of the Ohio, p. 56. Kitchen-middens or shell-mounds, 
PP- 56, 58. Giant's graves and dolmens, pp. 59, 281. Antiquity of 
man on the earth, p. 60. Formation of the surface of the earth in the 
diluvial period, p. 61. Glacial period and antiquity of the Somme 
Valley deposits, p. 282. Opinions on Tertiary man, p. 63. Antiquity 
of history, Traditions, p. 64. Egypt, pp. 66, 283. Ancient battles with 
animals, p. 66. Condition of existing savages, pp. 68, 69. Primeval 

(9) 



IO CONTENTS. 

man, p. 69. Physical condition of primeval man, p. 72. Influence of 
civilization, p. 286. Intellectual condition of primeval man and the 
most ancient human skull, p. 73. Discoveries of Schmerling and 
Spring in the Belgian caves, p. 288. Borreby skull, p. 74. Skull from 
Caithness, p. 75. Cheltenham skull, p. 75. Neanderthal skull, pp. 
75, 77. Human skulls like the Neanderthal skull, pp. 77, 78. Skull 
from Algodon Bay, p. 79. Progress of primeval man in the manufac- 
ture of stone-implements, p. 80. Stone ages, pp. 81, 85. Bronze and 
iron ages, p. 81. Copper age, pp. 82, 83. Use of stone weapons in 
historical times, p. 83. Earliest Stone age, p. 84. Middle Stone age 
and Reindeer period, p. 86. Caves and troglodytes and cannibalism 
in South Africa, p. 289. Human bones and skulls of the Reindeer 
period, p. 88. Reindeer stations in Belgium and Wurttemberg, p. 290. 
Latest stone or neolithic age, p. 88. Celts, pp. 88, 89. Pottery, p. 89. 
Slow progress of primeval man, p. 90. Stability the fundamental 
character of the savage state, p. 90. External and internal impulses 
to progress, p. 91. Immigration of foreign races, pp. 92, 291. Tra- 
ditions on the rude primitive state of man, p. 93. Ideas of Classical 
Antiquity on this subject, p. 93. Later or Christian notion of an 
original state of perfection, p. p. 94. Sir John Lubbock and J. P. Lesley 
on theology and science, p. 292. All civilization due to gradual devel- 
opment, p. 97. 

WHAT ARE WE ? 

Zoological position of man, pp. 101, 294. Order of Primates, pp. 
103, 294. Its divisions according to Huxley, p. 104. Its division and 
genealogical connection according to Hackel, p. 106. Animal gene- 
alogical tree of man according to Hackel, p. 106. Anthropoid Apes, 
p. 107. Resemblances to man in the lower Apes, p. 108. Gorilla, 
Chimpanzee, Orang-Utan and Gibbon, pp. 109, 295, 299. G. Pouchet 
on the zoological position of man, p. no. The foot as a prehensile 
organ, p. 111. Anatomical agreement of man and animals, p. 112. 
Relative differences in the structure of man and animals, p. 300. 
Their physiological agreement, pp. 116, 301. The brain in man and 
animals, pp. 117, 301, 302. Developmental history, p. 119. Modes of 
reproduction, pp. 121, 304. The ovum, pp. 121, 123. Evolution and 
Epigenesis, p. 125. Similarity of the embryos of all animals, p. 124. 



CONTENTS. 1 1 

The ovum in man, p. 126. Primitive groove and dorsal chord, p. 129. 
Resemblance of the human embryo to those of animals, p. 130. Tail 
of man, tailed men, p. 132. Human branchial arches, rudimentary or 
aborted organs, p. 134. The human intermaxillary bone, p. 133, 305. 
Rudimentary organs as supports of the monistic conception of the 
universe, p. 134. Triple developmental series, p. 134. Connection of 
developmental history with the question of the origin of man, p. 135. 
Importance of this question, p. 136. Priority of the hypothesis of the 
animal origin of man, p. 137. Huxley, Hackel, Schaaffhausen and 
Vogt, p. 137. Vogt on microcephali, p. 138. Schaaffhausen on the 
animal origin of man and the theory of evolution, p. 139, 305. Prior- 
ity of Dr. Reichenbach of Altona, pp. 140, 141. Lamarck, Oken and 
Darwin, p. 141. The animal origin of man a necessary consequence 
of every theory of descendence, p. 142. Claim to priority on the 
part of the author, p. 143. Huxley's three Essays, p. 144. Refuta- 
tion of Huxley's attack upon materialism, p. 307. Huxley on some 
fossil remains of man, p. 144. Further discoveries of this kind, jaw of 
La Naulette, p. 145, 308. Jaws of Moulin-Quignon, Hyeres, Arcis-sur- 
Aube, Grevenbriick, &c, p. 147. Rarity of human remains from 
primeval times, p. 148, and their general resemblance to animals, p. 
149. Existence of former intermediate forms between man and ani- 
mals, p. 149. Fossil remains of Apes, p. 150. Prehistoric Ape-men, 
p. 150. Extinction of the Anthropoid Apes and the lowest human 
races, p. 151. The When? where? and how? of the first production 
of man, p. 152. Unity or multiplicity of mankind, p. 152. Applica- 
tion of the former idea of species to man, p. 153. Races of man and 
the idea of races, p. 309. Diversity of languages, p. 153. Schleicher 
on primeval languages, p. 154. Agreement of the Asiatic and African 
Anthropoid Apes, with the primitive races of man in those regions, p. 
154. Schaaffhausen on the unity or multiplicity of the genealogy of 
man, p. 155. Vogt a defender of polygeny, p. 155. Hackel on the 
origin of man and his unity or multiplicity, p. 156. Hackel's primi- 
tive man or Ape-man, p. 157. Production of the true or speaking 
man from the speechless primitive man, p. 158. Division of the prim- 
itive man into several species, p. 158. Woolly and smooth-haired 
branches, p. 159. Further divisions of these branches, p. 160. The 
Caucasian race the future rulers of the whole world, p. 160. G. 
Pouchet on the primitive form and on the development of the races of 
man, p. 161. Solution of the dispute, p. 161. Adam and Eve, p. 162. 



12 CONTENTS. 

Rolle on the conversion of the animal into man, p. 162. Gradual or 
sudden development of human qualities in individual anthropoids, p. 
163. Relation of man to his animal cousins, p. 164. Intelligence of 
the great Apes, p. 165. Wallace on a young Orang, p. 165, 309. In- 
telligence of the Orang, Chimpanzee, &c, p. 310. Intellectual life of 
animals in general, p. 166. The distinctions between man and animal 
disappear on close consideration, p. 166. Savage men and tribes, pp. 
168, 312. Marriage and family-life, p. 168. Social organization, p. 169. 
Sense of Shame, p. 169. Belief in God, p. 319. Art of numeration, 
p. 321. Employment of tools, p. 321. Use of Fire, p. 170. Wearing 
Clothes, p. 322. Suicide, p. 170. Agriculture, p 170. Language the 
most striking characteristic of man, p. 170. Imperfection of the lan- 
guage of savages, p. 323. Origin of language, p. 171. Schleicher, 
Grimm, and J. P. Lesle3 r on the origin of language, p. 324. First com- 
mencement of language according to C. Royer, p. 172. Development 
of language from emotional and imitative sounds, p. 173. Bleek on 
the early development of speech, p. 173. G. Jager on the language 
of man and animals, p. 174. Origin of writing according to L. 
D'Assier, p. 176. Conclusion, p. 176. 

WHERE ARE WE GOING? 

The mystery of human existence is solved, p. 181. The questions 
of the how? and why? of existence, p. 182. Process of development, 
p. 182. Solution of the enigma of the universe, p. 183. The distinc- 
tion of the appearance from the thing itself and the limitation of our 
sensuous perception, p. 325. Increasing scientific knowledge con- 
stantly binds us more closely to earthly life, p. 184. Man as the 
final product of terrestrial development, p. 184. The world first made 
known to itself in man, p. 185. The struggle for existence, p. 186. 
Destiny of man, p. 1S7. Inheritance of intellectual qualities, p. 188. 
Influence of advancing culture upon the struggle for existence in man, 
p. 189. Pacific railway, p. 190. Question of the development of 
higher races in the future, p. 191. Improbability of this supposi- 
tion, p. 192. Advancing development ofthe brain, pp. 193, 327. Vio- 
lence of the struggle for existence on the moral and social domain, 
pp. 194, 195. Its conquest by the endeavor after social elevation and 
common happiness, p. 196. Replacement of the struggle for the. 
means of existence by that for existence, p. 198. The government 



CONTENTS. 13 

and politics of the future, p. 200. Republicanism, federalism and cen- 
tralism, p. 202. Division of labor, pp. 203, 328. Nationalities, p. 204. 
Principle of nationality, p. 205. Former national hatred, p. 205. 
Society and its infinite inequality, p. 206. Political liberation must 
be completed by social liberation, p. 206. Difference between the 
natural and social struggle for existence, p. 206. Liberty and equality 
in the political and social sense, p. 207. Equal right of all men to the 
material and intellectual property of mankind, p. 208. Immense 
contrasts in the present state of society, p. 208. Want of physical and 
intellectual nourishment, p. 209. Unequal payment of work, p. 329. 
The unbridled struggle for existence the cause of social misery, p. 210. 
Egotism the mainspring of social movement, pp. 211, 330. The im- 
provement of this condition, p. 211. Communism, pp. 211, 330, 331. 
Proposition of an equalization of the means for the struggle for ex- 
istence and replacement of the power of nature by the power of rea- 
son, p. 213. The social revolution and the Bourgeoisie, p. 332. The 
soil a common possession, pp. 215, 333. Limitation of the right of 
bequest, pp. 215, 334. Care of the state for those who are incapable 
of earning, pp. 216, 335. Feudal government and popular govern- 
ment, p. 217. Disadvantages of great private fortunes and advantages 
of an enrichment of the commonwealth, p." 218. Capital and its 
nature, p. 221. Folly of the cry against capital as such, p. 221. Its 
unjust distribution, p. 222. Periodical restoration of capital to the 
community, p. 222. Advantages of such an arrangement, p. 223. 
Labor and laborers, p. 225. Folly of establishing a special labor- 
question, p. 225. Work-takers and work-givers and the capitalistic 
mode of production, pp. 226, 227. Lasalle's productive associations 
and their deficiencies, p. 227. Probable formation of a so-called fifth 
estate, p. 228. State aid and self-aid, pp. 229, 346. Means of sal- 
vation, p. 230. Judgment upon the Lassallean agitation among the 
workmen, p. 230. The family, p. 232. Ideal and real families, p. 233. 
Miserable state of family life in the lower strata of society, p. 234. 
Defective education of children and fertility of proletaires, p. 235. 
Advantages of social education over domestic, p. 235. Good and bad 
families, p. 235. Education, p. 237. A good, popular education the 
duty of the state, p. 237. Importance of schools for the people, p. 237. 
Crime and criminals, p. 238. Higher and lower educational institutes, 
p. 238. The Universities and their reform, p. 337. Establishment of 
a legal working day, pp. 239, 338. Woman and her emancipation, p. 



14 CONTENTS. 

241. The female brain, p. 246. The political equalization of women, 
p. 248. War-service of women, p. 249. Marriage, p. 250. Import- 
ance of sexual selection, p. 250. Absurd fear of over-population, p. 
252. Morals and the only right principle of morality, p. 254. No in- 
nate conscience or law of morality, p. 255. Egotism the mainspring 
of all human dealings, pp. 258, 339. The moral principle of the 
future, p. 259. Religion and its sources, p. 260. Replacement of 
faith by knowledge ; morals and religion have originally nothing in 
common, p. 260. Religion rather inimical than favorable to civiliza- 
tion, p. 261. Morality independent of the belief in God, p. 262. 
Emancipation of the State and of the school from ecclesiastical influ- 
ence, p. 263. Christianity or Paulinism, p. 263. Christianity as a 
world-religion, p. 264. Rome and Christianity, p. 265. Philosophy, 
p. 267. Death as the cause of all philosophy, p. 269. Imperishable- 
ness of our nature, p. 269. Materialism and idealism are not oppo- 
sites, p. 272. Confusion of theoretical and practical materialism, p. 
274. Progressive tendency and programme of materialism, p. 274. 



INTRODUCTION. 



• "The great business of life — even that which lies most immediately before us 
— will be more fully understood and more rationally performed, the better man 
knows the place he holds and the relations he bears to the plan of Creation."— 
D. Page. 

" When we glance over the results of modern research, now flowing in from 
all sides, and consider them in their significance for the knowledge of man, it 
can no longer be a matter of doubt that we have come to the end of established 
notions, and that we are approaching a different conception of nature." — 

SCHAAFFHAUSEN. 

"Natural history in the present day gives us a higher conception of the Uni- 
verse than that entertained by the ancients ; it no longer regards the material 
world as the plaything of mere caprice, or history as an unequal contest between 
God and Man ; it embraces the past, the present and the future as a magnificent 
unity, outside of which nothing can exist." — A. Laugel. 

IN his admirable Essay on Man 's Place in Nature, the cele- 
brated anatomist and philosopher, Professor Huxley, com- 
pares the process of development by which the human 
intellect is constantly advancing towards truth, with the 
periodical moultings of a feeding and growing grub. " From 
time to time," he says, " the old integument becomes too strait- 
ened for the growing animal, it is therefore burst asunder and 
replaced by a new and larger growth. Precisely the same 
thing occurs in the history of the intellectual development of 
man. The human mind, fed by constant accessions of 
knowledge, grows too large for its theoretical coverings, and 
periodically bursts them asunder, to appear in new habili- 
ments." 

Since the revival of learning in the fifteenth century, there 
has been an abundance of strong food for the human intellect, 

(15) 



1 6 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

the education of which was indeed commenced by the Greek 
philosophers, but then suffered the interruption of a long in- 
tellectual stagnation or sleep of fourteen centuries. I will not 
stop to enquire, by what influence this stagnation was brought 
about, although this is clear enough to the eyes of those who 
are acquainted with true history, and not merely with that sub- 
stitute for it which has been concocted by theologians and 
philosophers for their own purposes. 

But this revival of science being once set on foot, it was 
inevitable that a more frequent bursting of the old integu- 
ments would take place, and this process of intellectual moulting 
must be frequently repeated. And so it was in the sixteenth cen- 
tury, by the overthrow of the old astronomical system and the 
influence of the Reformation ! and at the end of the eighteenth 
century, by the period of intellectual enlightenment and the 
influence of the great French Revolution ! 

And now once more the human intellect has received such a 
quantity of strong and stimulating nourishment by the extra- 
ordinary progress of the natural sciences during the last fifty 
years, that a new and great change and a repeated bursting of 
the old integuments appears to be inevitable. 

Nevertheless, as Huxley remarks in carrying still further 
his admirable simile, just as these periodical moultings are not 
effected without superinducing various diseased conditions, 
disturbances, and general debility in the animal undergoing 
change, — so also in the intellectual world these metamor- 
phoses are likewise attended with perils and discomforts of all 
kinds. Therefore, it is the duty of every good citizen and 
patriot to aid with all the strength and means at his command, 
(however small they may be), towards the speedy and satisfac- 
tory completion of this process or necessary crisis, or at any 
rate to do what he can to assist in bursting and stripping off 
the old integuments, and thus give room and liberty to the 
growing body. 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

This masterly comparison, by which at the outset of his 
Essay, Professor Huxley seeks to show, that it was his right, or 
better still his duty to take part in the public discussion of the 
greatest scientific question of his age, may also serve to 
excuse or justify the author of the present book for having 
undertaken to treat in a familiar style a question so important 
and difficult as the position of man in nature, and to present to 
the general public an exposition of the results attained by 
modern science for its elucidation, and for the refutation of old- 
world errors and prejudices. 

Professor Huxley is undoubtedly in the right in describing 
this question of Man's place in nature and his relations to the 
universe, as the question of questions for mankind, — as a prob- 
lem which lies at the root of all others and interests us more 
profoundly than any other. 

"Whence our race has come;" he says, "what are the 
limits of our power over nature and of nature's power over us ; 
to what goal are we tending ; are the problems which present 
themselves anew and with undiminished interest to every man 
born into the world." More simply expressed, these are the 
old questions which have in all times occupied the human 
mind, and which run as follows : 

Whence do we come ? What are we ? and whither are we. 
going ? — Problems which formerly seemed to be veiled in the 
deepest obscurity of impenetrable secrecy, and which first re- 
ceived some elucidation or illumination from the science of our 
own day. 

In former times, the answer to such questions as these could, 
of course, but accommodate itself to the general philosophi- 
cal and theological ideas of the age, and that mystery espe- 
cially with .vhich we are now chiefly occupied, lay until quite 
recently buried under such a load of ignorance and prejudice 
that, from a scientific standpoint, it could only be regarded as 
insoluble and incapable of any scientific treatment. Hence it 



l8 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

came about, that the fundamental problem of all, namely, that 
of the origin and production or genealogy of the human race, 
was almost unanimously declared, not merely by the philos- 
ophers of former days, but also in unison with them by gen- 
eral opinion to be tra?iscende?ital, that is to say, beyond the 
reach of human powers of conception and comprehension, (at 
all events, so far as these rested upon observation and expe- 
rience.) 

Who could have suspected, even a few years ago, that 
within so short a period the progress of knowledge and of 
scientific induction would throw a light so clear and certain 
upon this mystery of mysteries — upon the earliest past history 
and the first commencement of our race upon the earth ? 

We may say without exaggeration, that this step stands in 
the first line of all the advances made by the human mind ; 
that the discovery of the natural origin of man, and the de- 
monstration of his true position in the universe, deserves to be 
ranged side by side with the greatest scientific discoveries of 
all times, if indeed it should not be raised above them. 

Those men of science of our day who have applied their 
minds most thoroughly to this subject, have found themselves 
constrained to express themselves in the same or a similar 
manner. Thus Professor Schaaffhausen says : " To have 
ascertained the real origin of man is a discovery so fertile in 
its consequences for all human conceptions, that futurity will 
perhaps regard this result of investigation as the greatest of 
which the attainment was allotted to the human mind." And 
from the opinion expressed by Professor Ernest Haeckel in his 
Natilrliche Schopftmgsgeschichte, (Berlin, i860, p. 487), the 
recognition of the natural (and especially the animal) origin of 
man must sooner or later bring about a complete revolution 
in our entire conception of the relations of mankind and the 
world. 

There is perhaps only a single scientific discovery, which in 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

point of importance and far-reaching consequences is to be 
placed on the same level with this, and that is the discovery 
that the earth moves and that the sun is stationary, or the 
establishment of the so-called Copernican system of the 
universe* Of all those "burstings forth" or "moultings" 
of the human mind, already spoken of, and which we may 
count so many of greater or less importance in the history of 
the development of human civilization, this great astronomi- 
cal discovery is undoubtedly one of the most important and 
conspicuous. Nowadays we can hardly form a notion of the 
immense influence which the great discovery of Nicholas 
Copernicus, about the middle of the sixteenth century, after the 
Long intellectual lethargy of the middle ages, exerted upon the 
men of that and the following century; in this respect, and as 
enlarging the intellectual horizon of the men of that time, 
there is nothing to compare with it except perhaps the dis- 
covery of America. 

Starting from this idea, Professor Haeckel, in an admirable 
lecture on the origin and genealogy of the human race, (Ber- 
lin, 1868,) indicates two errors as the greatest and most 
serious in their consequences, which still, as formerly, stand 
in opposition to the development of the human intellect. 

These he very appropriately calls the geocentric and the an- 
thropocentric errors. The geoce?itric error consisted in regard- 
ing the earth as the central point and chief object in the whole 
universe, the other parts of which were considered only to 

* In the year 1543, Nicholas Copernicus published his celebrated book on the 
Paths of the Heavenly Bodies, which effected a complete revolution not only in 
astronomy, but also in the whole conception of the Universe of that day. In 
gratitude for this he was regarded as a fool by his contemporaries ! Even the 
great reformer Dr. Martin Luther, who, however, like his opponents, was a theo- 
logian, was so unable to comprehend the new discovery that he came forward as 
a bitter opponent of Copernicus, and expresses himself with regard to him as 
follows in his Table-Talk : "The fool wishes to upset the whole art of Astron- 
omy. But as Holy Scripture shows, Joshua commanded the sun and not the 
earth to stand still." Might not our zealots against modern science take an 
example from this ? 



20 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

serve the purposes of this central point and its inhabitants; 
the anthropocentric error, which even still governs the great 
majority of mankind, regards man as the centre and sole 
object of the whole organic creation — as the image of God, or 
the ruler and centre of the terrestrial world — the whole mech- 
anism of which has been organized and exists solely for his use 
and with reference to his special needs. 

The former of these errors, as is well known, was over- 
turned and swept away by Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo and 
Newton; the second by Lamarck, Goethe, Lyell, Darwin and 
their adherents and followers. 

It is of this second error and its removal, or rather of what 
is to be put in its place, that the present book will particularly 
treat. But before entering into details upon the subject, the 
author will venture to refer to a phenomenon which, as his- 
tory teaches us, has always repeated itself with every new and 
great discovery, and of course is not wanting in the present 
case. This is the entirely unbounded fear which takes pos- 
session of the minds of men with regard to the supposed terri- 
ble consequences of such discoveries — or of the promulgation 
of a new scientific or philosophical conception of the universe. 
When the Copernican system began to prevail, not only reli- 
gion but the whole moral order of the world was supposed to 
be fearfully shaken and imperiled, and people thought that, 
with the change in opinion as to the relative positions of the 
heavenly bodies, faith and civilization, religion and morality, 
government and society must at once go to the wall, or at least 
undergo the most serious injuries. In reality, however, as is 
well known, not one of all these dreaded consequences and 
terrible prophecies was realized, but on the contrary mankind 
has since progressed in the most remarkable manner, not 
merely intellectually, but also in morality and civilization, and 
actually by the aid and in fact by the influence of this very 
enlargement of knowledge. 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

As it was then, so it will be now. All the innumerable dec- 
lamations and tirades of the votaries of darkness and victims 
of fear, in opposition to the recent step in advance, will not 
only have no effect against the truth, but the apprehensions 
raised by them will in no way be fulfilled. In the eyes of the 
writer and probably of every thinking man, every intellectual 
advance of mankind, every great approximation to the truth, 
is at the same time an advance both materially and morally ! 

With regard to the so-called a?ilhropocentric error, against 
which the recent discovery of the true position of man in 
nature must be regarded as especially directed, it is in itself, 
equally intelligible and excusable. For without the knowledge 
of the numerous facts which the indefatigable spirit of research 
has now placed at our command, man appears, at the first 
superficial glance, to be so thoroughly and fundamentally dif- 
ferent from surrounding nature, that we can scarcely blame our 
ancestors for not having known or even suspected the intimate 
and insoluble connection that exists between all the phenom- 
ena of nature and life, not excepting those presented by man 
himself. 

" In the past," as Prof. Perty says in his Anthropologische 
Vortrage, (Leipzig, 1863,) "man appeared to be a creature 
foreign to the earth and placed upon it as a transitory inhab- 
itant by some incomprehensible power. The more perfect 
insight of the present day sees man as a being whose develop- 
ment has taken place in accordance with the same laws that 
have governed the development of the earth and its entire or- 
ganization, — a being not put upon the earth accidentally by 
an arbitrary act, but produced in harmony with the earth's 
nature, and belonging to it as do the. flowers and the fruits to 
the tree which bears them." 

These ideas are also clearly and tersely expressed by an 
English writer, as follows : "In the opinions of former philos- 
ophers, man was an exceptional instance in the grand scheme 



22 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

of creation ; he formed an isolated phenomenon in the great 
plan of nature, to make free with whom, after the ordinary- 
fashion of inductive inquiry, was little other than an act of open 
and scandalous impiety." (Anthropol. Review, 1865, No. 9.) 

The state of things here pictured has now indeed been radi- 
cally changed : for as soon as we investigate the position of 
man from the standpoint of modern science and the great dis- 
coveries of recent days, setting aside all old prejudices, we 
come at once to results which are completely opposed to 
former views. We find, that man is most intimately connected 
with surrounding nature, not only in his bodily but also in his 
iyitellectual qualities, and that his elevated position is due only 
to the higher and more varied development of his powers and 
faculties. 

Formerly, with a strange and wilful blindness, Nature, from 
whose bosom man has sprung, was regarded, not as his friend 
and relative, but on the contrary as the greatest obstacle in 
his course of life, and especially in the way to the evolution of 
his highest intellectual powers. I could cite innumerable pas- 
sages from our most celebrated philosophers, in which these 
notions are expressed in the clearest manner. Nay, they ' 
sometimes even went so far as to declare positively, that nature 
was merely a revolt of the mind against itself, and therefore 
they loaded matter, which forms the foundation of all nature, 
with the coarsest invectives. Truly such conduct as this was 
as irrational as that of a child who raises its hand against its 
parents. 

We know only too well how far this contempt for nature in 
contradistinction to the world of the spirit, was carried by those 
whose conceptions of the universe were drawn from religious 
and especially from Christian sources. This senseless fanati- 
cism of rage against our own flesh must soon come to an end 
in the presence of the great discoveries now under discussion. 
For what we have now especially to seek in the interests of the 



INTRODUCTION. 23 

individual man and of the human race, is not a contempt and 
rejection of nature, but the most intimate acquaintance with it, 
in order that by this knowledge we may understand it, honor 
it, and conquer it. 

To the gradual diffusion of this knowledge are due the great 
influence and authority which the natural sciences have ac- 
quired in the last fifty years, and this will become more and 
more striking as time goes on. 

It is true indeed, (and in the interests of historical accuracy 
this must not be forgotten), the real position of man in nature 
was partially understood or recognized by a few remarkable 
thinkers at a very early period, long before the promulgation 
of the observations which we have now at our command. But 
theirs were isolated guesses, resting upon an intellectual intui- 
tion destitute of the necessary basis of empirical proof, and 
therefore could never arrive at general acceptance. The sci- 
ence of our time could alone furnish them with the necessary 
foundation. 

As regards this science itself, we must place in the first rank 
the recent and interesting investigation into the antiq2tity of the 
human race upon the earth ; — an antiquity which seems to us 
primeval and leaves far behind it all historical tradition. Of 
this so-called prehistoric existence of man, no one formerly had 
the least knowledge or suspicion, and this circumstance alone 
must have almost completely barred the way to a right recog- 
nition of the position of man in Nature. 

For if we imagine man, in accordance with the universally 
prevailing opinion of former times, created and placed upon 
the earth by an Almighty sovereign or creative power about 
five thousand or six thousand years ago, — if we suppose that 
he was then in all essential points the same thing or creature 
that we now behold him, or even perhaps still more perfect, — 
as a matter of course every thread which could bind him in 
accordance with regular laws with the rest of the universe, is 



24 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

entirely wanting, and there is no room for any other opinion 
than the old one which we have here indicated. But the late 
discoveries and investigations as to the primeval existence of 
man upon the earth have proved that man, although the high- 
est and perhaps the youngest member of the organic creation 
has already lived upon the earth during a period in comparison 
with which the few thousands of years covered by human his- 
tory and tradition shrink almost to a single moment. 

The facts proving this assertion will form the subject of the 
following section, the first of the three great divisions of our 
book. 



OUR ORIGIN. 



THE ANTIQUITY AND ORIGINAL STATE OF THE HUMAN RACE, 
AND ITS DEVELOPMENT FROM A BARBAROUS BEGINNING. 

" Natural history has traced back the history of Man to a period which lies far 
beyond all historical tradition. It has put back the antiquity of our race into 
that far past time when the European man fought with the cave animals of the 
diluvium, and not only ate the flesh of the Mammoth and Rhinoceros and the 
marrow of their bones, but even laid cannibal hands on the flesh of his own kind, 
— into a time when in our regions man fed his herds of Reindeer amongst the 
glaciers, or lived in the pile-dwellings of our lakes, or heaped up on the northern 
coasts great mounds of shells, the relics of his meals."— Prof. Schaaffhausen. 
( Vortrag uber die anthropologischeti Fragen der Gegenwart.) 

" Modern science is not contented with breaking down the foundations of clas- 
sical chronologies, which indeed were already in a very dilapidated state, and 
throwing back the origin of man to a period so distant, that in comparison with 
it, our written history appears like a passing moment in a series of centuries 
which the mind is unable to grasp. It goes still further," etc. — A. Laugel. 

IN the year 1852, or some forty years ago, an ancient cavern 
was accidentally discovered in France, on the southern 
slope of the Pyrenees, and close to the little town of Aurignac, 
in the department of the Haute Garonne. This has since be- 
come celebrated under the name of the " Cavern of Aurignac." 
It was closed by a heavy slab of sandstone, and in it were found 
the skeletons or bones of at least seventeen human beings, 
men, women and children, which had been deposited there. 
At first, unfortunately, a very imperfect examination of the 
cave was made, and the bones were again deposited in some 
other place. 

It was only after an interval of eight years (or in the year 
i860), that a careful and scientific examination and description 

(25) 



26 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

of the place was made by the famous French palaeontologist, 
M. E. Lartet, who had long been familiarly acquainted with 
the numerous bone caves of the south of France and with 
their contents. 

By this examination it was established beyond the reach of 
doubt, that the cave of Aurignac was a primeval sepulchre of 
the stone age, — of a period when a great number of what are 
commonly called antediluvian animals, of species long since 
extinct, were still living in our part of the world. 

When the rubbish which covered the slope was cleared 
away, it appeared that the floor of the cave had in former 
times been continued forward, so as to form a spacious open 
place or terrace in front of it. This terrace had evidently 
served the important purpose of furnishing the scene of the 
funeral ceremonies. Upon it a layer of ashes and fragments of 
wood charcoal, six inches thick, was found, and beneath this a 
sort of rough hearth, composed of several flat pieces of sand- 
stone reddened by the action of fire and resting immediately 
upon the underlying limestone. But the most remarkable 
thing was, that among the ashes and in the soil which covered 
them, a great quantity of the bones of animals and many arti- 
cles of human handiwork were found. Of the latter at least a . 
hundred were discovered. They were all made of stone and 
chiefly of flint. Among them were knives, arrowheads, sling- 
stones, flint-flakes and other objects, besides one of those flint 
nodules, which occur so abundantly in the chalk hills of France, 
and from which the flint implements were manufactured ; this 
also had its surfaces chipped. With these was found a sort of 
hammer, consisting of a rounded stone with a hollow place on 
each side ; this was made of a kind of rock not found in the 
district. It was probably held by placing the thumb and fore- 
finger in the two opposite cavities and may have been em- 
ployed in the manufacture of the flint implements. Besides 
these stone implements, others were found, made from the 



OUR ORIGIN. 27 

bones and horns of the Roe and Reindeer, such as needles, 
arrow-heads, awls, scraping knives, etc., and also the canine 
tooth of a young Cave Bear, bored lengthwise and worked in 
a peculiar manner, apparently to represent the head of a bird. 
This probably was suspended from the neck as an amulet or 
ornament. 

The bones of animals were very numerous, and for the most 
part belonged to species which lived in that Quarternary or 
Diluvial period of geological history which immediately pre- 
ceded our own epoch. No fewer than nineteen species were 
counted, and among these were the very animals which are 
most characteristic of the Diluvial period, such as the Cave 
Bear, tire Cave Hyena, the Mammoth or primeval Elephant, 
the Wooly Rhinoceros, the Gigantic Irish Deer, Horse, Rein- 
deer and Aurochs. Bones of herbivorous animals were by far 
the most numerous ; those of the Carnivora and also those of 
the Mammoth and Rhinoceros occurred but rarely. Hence we 
may conclude, that the last named animals were too formidable 
or too powerful to be hunted and killed by these early men. 
All the marrow-bones, without exception, were broken and 
split up to enable these primitive people to get at the marrow, 
which was one of their great dainties. Most of the bones were 
also scratched or furrowed lengthwise, as if they had been 
scraped with some rough instrument, such as a flint knife, to 
detach the last morsels of flesh adhering to them. Many of 
the bones also showed marks of the teeth of predaceous animals, 
and the spongy portions of them were gnawed off. This must 
have been done by the Hyenas, of which the petrified faeces 
(coprolites) were found lying about in abundance. Many 
bones showed evident traces of the action of fire, and these 
were of such a kind as to prove that the bones were, in a fresh 
state when exposed to it. 

Of human bones not one was found outside the cave. — 
Within it, however, many were found, chiefly those of the 



28 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

hands and feet, which had been left behind in the first clearing 
out. Their general condition was precisely the same as that 
of the bones of the extinct animals, the Cave Bear, Mammoth, 
etc., and their chemical examination showed them to contain 
exactly the same quantity of organic matter. All the bones 
whether of men or animals presented the signs of high antiquity ; 
they were friable and porous, and adhered to the tongue. 

Besides the human bones the interior of the cave contained 
a number of bones belonging to the same species of animals 
that were found outside it, but these presented one very 
remarkable difference, — no traces of any violence, of gnawing, 
breaking, or the action of fire, could be detected upon them. 
Amongst others, all the bones of the leg of a Cave Bear were 
found lying together in their natural position, from which we 
may justly conclude, that this limb was put into the cave in an 
uninjured state and whilst still covered with flesh. There were 
also eighteen small, flat plates of a pearly substance, evidently 
derived from a cockle-shell ( Cardiuni). These were all perfo- 
rated in the middle and were probably strung upon a cord for 
the purpose of being used as a necklace^ Lastly, the cave 
contained- a great number of well preserved flint-knives, which 
apparently had never been used, a few instruments made of 
horn, and other objects of the same kind. There were how- 
ever in the interior of the cave no traces of the charcoal and 
ashes which were so plentiful on the outside of it. 

On his third visit to the cave M. Lartet examined the 
rubbish, which had been heaped up near it when it was first 
cleared out. In this he found many specimens of worked flint- 
stones and teeth of men and animals, together with a great 
number of fragments, pottery roughly made by hand and dried 
in the sun or half burnt, and various ornaments made of hard 
bone. There is little difficulty in seeing what is the signifi- 
cance of this remarkable discovery. The cave of Aurignac 



OUR ORIGIN. 29 

was evidently a primeval sepulchre of the so-called Stone-age, 
in which the remains of seventeen human beings had been 
successively deposited. These people were of small stature. 
More than this, unfortunately, we cannot say, as the skeletons 
could not be found in the place of their second interment. 
The objects found in the interior of the grotto seem to indicate 
that, in accordance with the custom still prevailing among 
barbarous people, food, implements, weapons and even orna- 
ments, were placed in the grave with the dead. The heavy 
sandstone slab before the entrance to the cave evidently served 
to close it temporarily and to protect it from the visits of wild 
animals. 

The flat place or terrace in front of the cave is even more 
interesting than the cave itself. Upon this, evidently, the 
relations and other mourners of the deceased held the funeral 
feasts. This is clearly proved by the hearth, the fragments of 
charcoal, the bones, with traces of the action of fire and of 
violence upon them, and the instruments with which the flesh 
was cut and scraped from the bones. After each interment, 
when the place was left by its human visitors and the cave 
itself was closed with the sandstone slab, the Hyenas came at 
night to regale upon the relics of the feast, as is proved by the 
marks of gnawing upon the bones and the coprolites scattered 
about. 

Thus this discovery gives us a pretty distinct picture of the 
life and doings of the primitive European man at a period 
when history did not exist, and when Europe was still, inhabited 
by those large and powerful quadrupeds which have hitherto 
been regarded as characteristic of a geological period ante- 
cedent to our own, and which have since given place to a very 
different set of animal inhabitants. The antique picture thus 
unrolled before us, agrees in its details most remarkably with 
that which we obtain from the accounts of travellers of the 
customs of savage nations in distant parts of the earth. Thus, 



30 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

amongst others, we have the journal of an English traveller, 
John Carver, who journeyed through North America in the 
years 1766-68 and witnessed the funeral ceremonies of an 
Indian tribe in what is now the state of Iowa, at the junction 
of the Mississippi with St. Peter's River. He describes these 
ceremonies perfectly in accordance with the data furnished by 
the discovery at Aurignac, and, as Sir Charles Lyell states, 
{Antiquity of Ma?i), his account served our great poet Schiller 
as the model of his well-known Nadowessische Todtenklage, 
in which the rites observed at the funeral of an Indian chief are 
described in precisely the same manner. 

The actual antiquity of the cave of Aurignac has been 
estimated at 50 — 10,000 years. Whether or not this estimate 
is correct, this remarkable discovery certainly justifies us in 
coming to the following conclusions : 

1. That long before the existence of any history, or even of 
any tradition, a savage tribe of men must have lived in Europe 
in a barbarous condition, or displaying such rudiments of 
civilization as we now find among existing savages ; 

2. That this tribe of men must have lived contemporaneously 
with the Mammoth, the extinct Rhinoceros, the Cave Bear, 
etc., that is to say, with animals which have long since become 
extinct and which, as has already been stated, are generally 
regarded as characteristic of a prehuman geological period.* 

These conclusions, which carry back the presence of man 
upon the earth to an unsuspected distance in the past, would 
be perfectly justified, even if we had no other evidence to stand 
upon than that furnished by the cave of Aurignac. But 
the fact of the very ancient existence of man, of his contem- 
poraneity with certain extinct animals, (a proposition long 
disputed with the greatest violence, but now perfectly demon- 
strated), does not rest only on the discovery at Aurignac, 
which is cited here merely as a simple example ; but similar 
*See Appendix No. 1. 



OUR ORIGIN. 31 

discoveries in proof of it have been made in nearly every part 
of the world — in England, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and 
Belgium, nay even in America, Asia, Australia, etc. Every- 
where the same or very similar conditions have been found to 
prevail, — everywhere caverns have occurred, in which remains 
of Man or indubitable evidences of human handiwork are found 
associated with the remains of supposed prehuman animals, 
and in many instances under circumstances which, when care- 
fully examined, leave no doubt that the men and animals 
must have been contemporaries. From a comparatively early 
date the discoveries of Schmerling and Spring in the numerous 
Belgian caves have been particularly celebrated ; as early as 
1833-34, Schmerling, with perfect justice, deduced from them 
the contemporaneity of man with the animals of the Diluvial 
period.* But in opposition to the general prejudices, his 
testimony was wasted like that of one preaching in the desert. 
The same fate had previously befallen the French naturalists 
Journal and Christol, who, as early as 1828-29, had made 
similar discoveries, and drawn similar conclusions from them, 
in the equally numerous caves of the South of France, (such as 
Bize near Narbonne, Gondres near Nimes, etc.); and the as- 
sertions of the English Geologist Buckland, in his Reliquia 
Diluviance, (1822), and of the German palaeontologist Baron 
von Schlotheim, had met with no better reception. The last 
named naturalist had made some discoveries in the years 1820- 
1824 in the gypsum quarries near Gera in Thuringia, which led 
him also to infer the contemporaneity of man with the Diluvial 
animals. The Danish naturalist Lund was so much under the 

* The book in which Schmerling gave his important observations to the world 
is entitled : Recherches sur les ossements fossiles decouverts dans les cavernes de 
la province d« Liege {1833). 

"It is impossible," says Professor Fuhlrott, "to read his report without 
sympathy ; we feel with him the difficulty of the task of establishing an opinion 
which offends against the firmly rooted prejudices of the day. And in fact neither 
by the solidity of his arguments, nor by the warmth of conviction, with which he 
supports them, could he at that time gain any adherents to his opinions." 



32 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

influence of this prejudice, that not even his interesting dis- 
coveries in the numerous bone-caves of Brazil, could thoroughly 
convince him of its falsehood. But since this period numerous 
and careful investigations of other bone-caves have been made, 
especially in England, France and Belgium, (partly at the 
expense of the respective governments of these countries,) and 
all have led to the same results. Among the Belgian caves 
the so-called Trou de Frontal, situated in the valley of the 
Lesse, is particularly worthy of mention, because, when it was 
discovered, it presented so precisely the same character as the 
the cave of Aurignac that the two caverns might almost be 
described in the same words. Here again the mouth of the 
cave was closed by a slab of sandstone ; within it the remains 
of fourteen human beings of small stature were deposited ; 
whilst in front of it there was an esplanade for the funeral 
feasts, with its hearth and traces of fire and with many flint- 
knives, bones of animals, shells, etc. 

But all these early discoveries were incapable of overthrow- 
ing a scientific prejudice which had for so long a period enjoyed 
an unrestricted dominion over the learned world, and indeed, in 
spite of all evidence to the contrary, still maintains itself in great 
force in some scientific and in very many non-scientific circles. 

This prejudice consists in the assumption, that man cannot 
have had a more ancient existence upon the earth than the 
latest of known geological periods, namely that of the so-called 
Alluvium, which is a deposit produced by the action of our 
existing rivers upon their banks and at their mouths. 

The formation of this deposit necessarily presupposes that, 
when it took place, the surface of the earth was of the same 
form as at the present day ; the equilibrium between land and 
water must likewise have been the same, and the same fauna 
and flora must have been in existence as at present. 

The existence of man upon the earth was therefore believed 



OUR ORIGIN. 33 

not to date more than a few thousand years before the Christian 
era. This prejudice, sanctified by age and, as it was supposed, 
supported by great scientific authority, had indeed been nour- 
ished and strengthened by many circumstances, among which 
a principal part must be ascribed to the numerous disappoint- 
ments, which had been experienced with regard to discoveries 
of supposed fossil human bones, which afterwards turned out to 
be those of animals* and to the asserted opposition of the great 
anatomist and naturalist Cuvier.f But another circumstance 
may have contributed even more than these to the misappre- 
hension of the truth, and this was that the prejudice in question 
agreed remarkably with a widely diffused philosophical opinion, 
which had by degrees become the darling of the general public. 
According to this opinion, man, as the final flower or crown of 
creation, its corner-stone as it were, could not have appeared 

* See Appendix No. 2. 

t Cuvier, who, by his celebrated work, the Recherches sur les ossements 
fossiles, (1812), was the first to introduce system and order into the previously 
very imperfect knowledge of the remains of a former world, and whose immense 
knowledge certainly quite justified his undisputed claim to the leadership in this 
field, has generally been supposed to have declared the existence of fossil or an- 
tediluvian man to be an impossibility. But in reality his authority has been and 
still is cited quite erroneously on this point. For, far from expressing himself 
in any such terms, Cuvier only says that no fossil or petrified men or apes have 
yet been found. Most certainly if Cuvier were living at present he would have 
taken his stand with his weighty authority on the side opposed to his opinion of 
that time. 

The affair is, however, so important that I cannot abstain from giving here 
Cuvier's own words. In his great work Sur les Revolutions du Globe, (1825), 
he says expressly : " But I will not conclude from this (i. e., from the fact that 
as yet no remains of man or apes had been found), that man did not exist at all 
before this epoch. He might inhabit some countries of small extent, from 
whence he re-peopled the earth after these terrible occurrences ; perhaps also the 
places where he dwelt have been entirely submerged and his bones buried at the 
bottom of the present seas, with the exception of a small number of individuals 
who have continued the species." 

It may serve for the explanation of this quotation to state that Cuvier in the 
spirit of his time still believed in isolated, great and universal revolutions of the 
globe, which, however, in reality have not taken place. It will be seen, how- 
ever, from the quotation, that Cuvier's followers and disciples were more ortho- 
dox or more limited in their views than the master himself, a case which indeed 
is by no means unfrequent. 



34 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

upon this theatre of his being until the last and most recent 
geological period, (the Alluvium), and thus he forms not only 
the highest fulfillment, but also the final conclusion of all organic 
creative activity. Of course this comfortable opinion was in 
danger of being greatly diminished in value, or perhaps even 
altogether upset by the investigations to which we have referred, 
and as the majority of men, in their fondness for intellectual re- 
pose and comfort, dread nothing more than the shaking of old 
established articles of faith, they prepared to fight against the 
new ideas to the very last drop of their blood. It must be con- 
fessed, that there was one circumstance much in favor of the 
opponents of the new doctrine in their struggle against the 
fossil man* and the evidence derived from the cave-discoveries. 
So long as we had only these cave-discoveries to appeal to, it 
was said: Granting the truth of all these discoveries and their 
results, how is it, that we find no human remains and no traces 
of human action in the regular strata of the period before the 
alluvium, in deposits open to the ligh\ of day? Why do we 
always meet with them only in these dark caves and grottos, 
where there is always a possibility that the remains of man and 
animals may have been swept together by great floods pf water, 
and where at any rate the peculiarity of the conditions, under 
which these remains are discovered, leaves so much enveloped 
in obscurity and mystery ? 

But even to these grave questions the indefatigable spirit of 

* In using the expression " fossil" we must take care to avoid the frequent 
misconception that the idea of " petrifaction " is necessarily connected with it. 
For although undoubtedly many fossil objects are found in a petrified state, this 
condition is by no means always their essential characteristic. Even in our times 
organic bodies are petrified under favorable circumstances, whilst others which 
have lain much longer in the earth do not become petrified. Moreover the word 
"fossil" itself (derived from the Latin "fossz't/s") by no means signifies a 
petrified object, but only something that is dugout of the depths of the earth. 
According to Professor Pictet of Geneva, the word is applicable to all organic 
remains which lie buried in those strata of the earth which have been formed 
under certain conditions djf event from those of the present day. Therefore in 
order that organic remains should be recognized as fossi', they must belong to a 
period which preceded the present state of things on the surface of the earth. 



OUR ORIGIN. 35 

investigation has found an answer. And here we might narrate 
the touching history of a man who, for twenty long years, in 
spite of misapprehension and scorn, contended in vain against 
the great prejudice in favor of the late appearance of the human 
race upon the earth, until finally he was rewarded by victory 
and general appreciation. We refer to the celebrated French 
antiquary and discoverer of antediluvian flint axes, Boucher de 
Perthes, of Abbeville on the Somme. 

The Somme, as is well known, is a river of the North of 
France, (in Picardy), and falls into the English Channel. In 
the greater part of its course it runs through a district of white 
chalk, partly covered with Tertiary deposits. Above these 
Tertiary strata there are great beds of rolled pebbles, sand, 
gravel and loam, belonging to the Diluvial period which we 
have already so frequently mentioned. In the vicinity of the 
towns of Amiens and Abbeville these beds were laid bare to a 
considerable extent, partly by the formation of great gravel pits 
and fortifications, and partly, in more recent times, (1830 to 
1840), by the construction of a canal and railway. Years ago 
the bones of diluvial and extinct animals, (such as Elephants, 
Rhinoceroses, Bears, Hyenas, Deer, etc.), had been found in 
these diluvial deposits at a depth of 20 to 30 feet and close to 
the underlying chalk; these were sent to Cuvier in Paris, who 
determined and described them. And it was here and in pre- 
cisely the same places that Boucher de Perthes found those 
famous flint axes of the rudest form, which have given a totally 
different aspect to the whole question of the antiquity of the 
human race upon the earth. Boucher de Perthes had seen, 
(probably in 1805 and 18 10), certain worked flints in Italian 
caves and was led to ascribe to them a high antiquity on account 
of their peculiar coloration. His archaeological knowledge 
enabled him to distinguish these flint axes from the so-called 
celts — the polished stone weapons of a much latter date — which 
have been found in a great many places and may be seen in 



36 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

abundance in every collection of antiquities. In the year 1838, 
Boucher de Perthes first exhibited the flint axes found by him 
to the scientific Society of Amiens, but without any result. 
With equal want of success he took them to Paris in 1839. In 
1841 he began to form his collection, which has since become 
so celebrated. In 1847 ne published his Antiquites anledilu- 
viennes, but even this work attracted no attention, until, in 
1854, a French savant named Rigollot, who had long been a 
determined opponent of Boucher de Perthes' views, became 
convinced of the correctness of his statements by personal 
examination, and then made a" successful search for these flint 
implements in the neighborhood of Amiens. He was soon 
followed by others, especially Englishmen, among whom were 
the celebrated geologist, Sir Charles Lyell, (in whose presence 
during two visits to the locality no fewer than seventy flint 
hatchets were turned out), Mr. Prestwich, M. A. Gaudry and 
others. 

Scientific men soon assembled in the valley of the Somme 
from all quarters, and all those who came and examined for 
themselves went away converted to the new opinions. Of 
course, as might be expected, objections of all kinds were 
raised. Some declared, that the hatchets had been thrown out 
of a volcano ; others that they were natural products of the ac- 
tion of water or frost. Others again, without venturing to deny 
their artificial origin, maintained that they had reached the 
depth, at which they lay, either by a gradual sinking caused 
by their own weight or by falling into fissures of the soil. 
However, all these objections were soon shown to be unten- 
able. Commissions of scientific men, including the most cele- 
brated names of England and France among their members, 
assembled repeatedly to investigate the matter, and the general 
result of their examinations was expressed in the following im- 
portant statements: 
1. The flint hatchets are undoubtedly the work of human hands; 



OUR ORIGIN. 37 

2. They lie in virgin or undisturbed deposits of the Diluvial 
age, which have not undergone any alteration or reconstruction 
by natural phenomena since their original deposition, and there- 
fore in deposits the formation of which presupposes a structure 
of the surface of the earth essentially different from that which 
now exists; 

3. They occur associated with remains of fossil animals now 
entirely extinct; and they prove that the antiquity of man upon 
the earth reaches far beyond all historic times and indeed far 
beyond all tradition* 

These flint axes have been found in such abundance in the 
Valley of the Somme, that their number, several years ago, 
must have been some thousands, not to mention the innumerable 
chips, flakes and imperfect specimens that have been met with. 

Manufactured from the flint-nodules so abundant in the white 
chalk of France, these implements represent the first and lowest 
stage of human industry. They were produced merely by 
knocking together the flint-nodules, which, when thus treated, 
split up with a sharp, conchoidal, (or shell-like), fracture. 
Flint, hard as it is, is in fact very easy to split, especially when 
it is operated on in a fresh state with its pit-moisture still in it, 
or when it has been soaked for a good while in water. When 
the nodules had been split up roughly, the fragments were 
worked at with little taps until they attained a useful form, and 
then the instrument was complete. That this was the process 
really adopted, and that it effects the desired purpose, has been 
proved by experiment. 

* Carl Vogt expresses himself in the same way in his Vorlesungen ilber den 
Menschen . — At p. 52 of his first volume he says : " It is now incontestably proved, 
that these flint weapons could only have been fabricated by man, that they owe 
their existence to no other natural cause, that they lie in great quantities in beds 
which have never been disturbed or moved since their first deposition, and that 
they undoubtedly belong to the same period as all the extinct animals that I have 
already mentioned." — And A. Laugel in his LViomme antediluvien says: "The 
greatest skeptics now admit, that the stones found in such considerable numbers 
by Boucher de Perthes are indebted to the hand of man for their peculiar form 
and their sharp edges." 



38 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

In these rudest forms of flint implements we find no trace of 
any finishing process; they are neither polished, ground, nor 
ornamented in the same manner usual with stone weapons of a 
latter date.* Nor do we find in them a hole for the handle or 
an external excavation or contracted part for reception in a haft 
embracing the stone on the outside. These flint axes were 
either held in the hand itself or merely stuck into a piece of 
wood, as is done to the present day by many savage people, 

* In prehistoric times flint was the most sought for and indeed almost the only 
material that was worked in Europe, and it has exerted a much more powerful 
influence upon the course of civilization than is commonly supposed, as for a long 
time the articles manufactured from it were the only implements that man could 
produce. Even now, savage tribes are anxious to obtain it, partly on account of 
its hardness, partly on account of its mode of fracture and the readiness with 
which it is worked in consequence. — If one strikes strongly with a round hammer 
upon the smooth surface of a flint-nodule, a conical fracture spreading through 
the whole mass of the nodule is produced ; whilst, if one strikes upon a projecting 
angle of the nodule, fragments split off which have rather a half-conical, flat and 
knife like form. When the four projecting angles of an angular flint-nodule have 
been cut off in this manner, the same process can be repeated with the eight angles 
then formed, and so on, until at last an axe-like nucleus is left. Of course a cer- 
tain amount of practice and dexterity is required for this purpose, as also care in 
the selection of the pieces for working. — A flint-fragment worked in this manner 
is, according to Sir John Lubbock, as sure a proof to the Archaeologist of the 
presence of man, as the traces of human footsteps in the sand were for Robinson 
Crusoe. 

The flints served sometimes as weapons, sometimes as implements. The 
former purpose was fulfilled especially by the larger fragments or true axes ; 
whi!st.the smaller fragments and chips were employed as knives, saws, awls, 
arrowheads and lance-heads, etc. Even to the present day by means of the same 
or similar stone-impiements assisted by fire, our existing savages fell trees and 
hollow them into boats, and also fight with each other. In the year 1809 an old 
stone-grave, ascribed by tradition to King Aldus McGaldus, was opened in Scot- 
land. There was f. und in it the very brittle skeleton of a man of very large 
stature, one arm of which was nearly separated from the trunk by a blow with a 
stone axe. A fragment of the axe was broken off and remained wedged into the 
bone. 

The stone itself was diorite, — a rock which does not occur in Scotland. Other 
stone-implements, some of them polished, were also found in the grave, but no 
trace of metal. 

In Utter times the working of flint advanced, and we find all kinds of 
axes, knives, arrow, and lance-heads, daggers, saws, etc., of this and similar 
materials. (From an Essay by Sir John Lubbock in the Revue Litteraire, 
1865-66, No. 1.) 



OUR ORIGIN. 39 

who usually wedge their stone weapons into the cleft branches 
of trees and endeavor to fix them firmly by tight binding above 
and below the stone. 

At the places where these flint axes were found in the Valley 
of the Somme, no other traces of human handiwork were met 
with, not one of those articles made of horn, bone, shell, etc., 
which have been so frequently found in deposits of later date, 
and in the numerous ossiferous caves especially have scarcely 
ever been missed. From this we may conclude that the ob- 
jects found in the Valley of the Somme are certainly more 
ancient than the cave of Aurignac, which has already been de- 
scribed, and in which there was a great collection of articles 
made of bone and horn, together with flint knives, which also 
indicate a later stage of civilization. 

We may therefore regard the flint axes of the Valley of the 
Somme, commonly known to archaeologists from the special 
localities where they are found, as stone implements of the 
Amiens, or of the Abbeville-type, as the earliest known trace of 
human industry, or as indicating the first and rudest beginning 
of the arts of civilization. As representing such a commence- 
ment as this, these objects, notwithstanding their simplicity and 
roughness, possess the highest significance, and must excite our 
deepest interest. For they show us with what rude and primi- 
tive steps man must have commenced his long and weary march 
towards civilization, and how poor and insignificant were the 
first beginnings of a culture which has since yielded such grand 
and noble results. They furnish us with the best guide to the 
recognition of the great fundamental law of nature and of man, 
according to which every thing great and admirable that man 
or the universe can yield or possess, is not a gratuitous gift 
from above, but only attained by slow and laborious develop- 
ment from simple and rude beginnings, by gradual evolution 
of the powers and faculties slumbering in nature and in man. 



40 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

"Evolution is henceforward the spell by means of which we 
may solve all the mysteries surrounding us, or at least put our- 
selves in the way of solving them." {Haeckel, Natiirliche 
Schopfungsgeschichte, Berlin, 1868.) 

To use the words of the celebrated discoverer of the flint 
axes, Boucher de Perthes, in his well known memoir, De 
V Homme antediluvien, (Paris, i860) : ' ' Let us not then disdain 
these first essays of our forefathers; if they had not made them, 
if they had not persevered in their efforts, we should have 
neither our towns nor palaces, nor any of those masterpieces 
which we admire in them. The first man who struck one 
pebble against another to give it a more regular form, gave the 
first blow of the chisel which produced the Minerva and all the 
marbles of the Parthenon." 

We must not, however, omit remarking, that the Valley of 
the Somme is no longer the only place where rude flint imple- 
ments of the character just described have been found. Since 
these axes and their appearance have become so well known, 
and general attention has been called to them, they have been 
found in many other parts of France, and especially in the Valley 
of the Seine, where their occurrence in the lowest Diluvial de- 
posits, associated with the bones of Diluvial animals, was very 
accurately ascertained by Gosse. And they have been dis- 
covered not only in France, but in many other parts of Europe, 
Asia, America, etc. , and in all cases in the same Quaternary or 
Diluvial deposits, in company with bones of the same extinct 
animals to which reference has already so frequently been made, 
and, singularly enough, with the same absence of all products 
of a more advanced state of civilization. It must not be sup- 
posed, however, that we merely find single bones of the animals 
mixed with the products of human industry, but sometimes the 
bones of entire limbs or other parts of the body are met with 
in their normal position in the gravel-beds which contain the 
axes, (Baillon), so that the idea of subsequent intermixture or 



OUR ORIGIN. 41 

sweeping together by water is at once excluded. A very con- 
vincing discovery of this kind was made on the banks of the 
Manzanares, near Madrid, by Casiano de Prado. In 1845 to 
1850, a large portion of the skeleton of a Rhinoceros was found 
in the diluvial sand occurring there, and soon afterwards a nearly 
perfect skeleton of an Elephant. In a bed of rolled pebbles 
lying beneath this ossiferous Diluvial sand several flint axes of 
human workmanship were discovered. According to Carl 
Vogt, (Archivfiir Anthropologic, 1866, Part I.), this discovery 
removes all doubt. 

The flint axes have hitherto been found most abundantly in 
old river-valleys in England and France, and in England also, 
on some parts of the coast. Their number, which was at first 
small, has gradually become so considerable, that Sir John 
Lubbock estimates at more than three thousand the flint im- 
plements of the earliest stone-age or the palaeolithic period, as 
he calls it, which have been exhumed in the north of France 
and the south of England alone. None of these utensils are 
ground or polished, and they are nowhere associated with 
worked metals or pottery, or with objects made of bone, horn, 
etc. From an historical point of view it is certainly worthy of 
notice, that, as soon as the discoveries in the Valley of the 
Somme were made known, people remembered that in Eng- 
land, as long ago as the year 1797, these same flint axes had 
been dug out in great numbers from a brickfield near Hoxne, in 
the county of Suffolk, where they occurred at a depth of twelve 
feet in company with the bones of extinct animals. As no one 
knew what to make of them they were thrown by baskets-full 
upon the neighboring road. The English Antiquary, John 
Frere, had noticed them, however, and in the year 1801 he 
read a paper upon them at a Meeting of the Society of the An- 
tiquaries, but the matter was not regarded as of any importance. 
Nevertheless Frere even then remarked quite justly, that the 
discovery pointed to a very remote and indeed to an ante- 



42 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

diluvian period. Short as his communication is, it contains 
the essence of all subsequent discoveries and speculations as to 
the antiquity of the human race. 

Even before this time, in the year 1715, one of these flint in- 
struments of the most ancient kind had been exhumed, in com- 
pany with Elephants' bones, from the gravel of London ; but 
people were then in a less favorable position than at the later 
period to draw definite conclusions from this circumstance.* 

The great resemblance that prevails throughout all these 
axes found in England and France is very remarkable, and is 
so great that the workmen in the gravel-pits where they occur 
have given them the general name of" cat's tongues." This 
circumstance may be partly explained, if we consider that at 
the time of the deposition of the diluvium, England and France 
were not yet separated by the Channel ; they were then direct- 
ly united by land, so that reciprocal communication between 
the inhabitants of the two countries was very easy. 

Lastly, in connection with this, it must be borne in mind, 
that the cave-discoveries have also furnished an abundant sup- 
ply of rude stone-implements, although these are in part of a 
different character and generally belong to a rather later date. 

So much for the flint axes of the Diluvial period, of which 
such numerous and remarkable specimens are now to be seen 
in the Museums of London, Paris and elsewhere. An attempt 

* At a still earlier period people had so little notion of the nature and signifi- 
cance of the stone axes and weapons of earlier and later times that they were 
regarded with superstitious fear and hope and as productions of lightning or 
thunder. Hence for a long time they were called thunderbolts (ceramia) even by 
the learned, and popularly, in common with some fossil remains of animals, they 
still bear this name. " Albinus (in his Meissener Land- und Berg-Chronik) says, 
that the thunder throws down these stones, and Happelius Kleine Weltbeschreib- 
ung describes their production from the vapors in the atmosphere as pleasantly 
as if he had himself been a witness of it. As late as the beginning of the last 
century (1734) when Mahndel explained in the Academy of Paris that these stones 
were human implements, he was laughed at, because he had not proved that they 
could not have been formed in the clouds. Even at the present day they are 
reverenced and carried about by the common people as talismans, love-charms, 
etc." — (Schleiden.) 



OUR ORIGIN. 43 

has been made to weaken the force of their evidence as to the 
high antiquity of the human race by raising the following ques- 
tion : Why do we not find associated with these axes other 
human remains, especially human bones, seeing that plenty of 
bones of animals are to be found with them ? This point was 
seized upon with avidity by the numerous opponents of the 
new doctrine and has, in fact, given rise to much doubt. The 
explanation of this obscure matter given by Lyell, in his work 
upon the Antiquity of Man, is exceedingly ingenious and, as it 
appears to us, perfectly satisfactory. But this explanation has 
become unnecessary since Boucher de Perthes, the original 
discoverer of the flint axes, succeeded in satisfying even this 
requirement. On March 28, 181 3, Boucher de Perthes took 
with his own hands from a gravel pit at Abbeville, in which 
the axes had been found, and from a great depth in it, and 
close to the subjacent chalk, a human lower jaw, the same 
which has since become so celebrated as the jaw of Moulin 
Quignon. 

This is now in the Anthropological Museum at Paris. It is 
of a very dark, blue-black color, and in its conformation shows 
some tendency towards an animal character. Some objections 
to the genuineness of the jaw were made, especially by the 
English savants, who were perhaps a little jealous of the French 
discoveries, and these led to long discussions in the scientific 
world. But on May 13, 1863, an international scientific com- 
mission decided that the jaw was genuine, that it had not only 
lain where it was discovered, but that it was actually contem- 
poraneous with the diluvial flint axes.* 

* The details of this discussion will be found in the Prods- Verbaux des Seances 
du Congres re'uni a Paris et a Abbeville sous la presidence de M. le Professeur 
Milne-Edwards, etc., printed in Paris. The French savants Quatrefages and 
Broca, also express themselves in the same way. In his report on the labors of 
the Anthropological Society of Paris for the year 1863, the latter says : — " All this 
has convinced you of the authenticity of this fossil jaw of Moulin-Quignon," — and 
Quatrcfages says, in his Anthropological Lectures for the year 1865: — "The 
question of the authenticity of the discovery at Moulin-Quignon is fully solved. 
No one any longer doubts this authenticity, unless it be in England." 



44 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

Until July 16, 1869, this interesting discovery remained an. 
isolated fact. But on that day Boucher de Perthes found a 
number of human bones presenting the same character as the 
jaw, and amongst these was a skull of a very low type. These 
were found not far from the locality of the first discovery, under 
the same circumstances, and at a depth in the ground of three 
metres (about ten feet). 

These, however, are not the only fossil human bones which 
have been found out of caves. In his celebrated book on the 
Antiquity of Man, Sir Charles Lyell enumerates several cases, 
some of them of comparatively early date, such as the fossil 
Man of Denise, discovered by Dr. Aymard in 1844, whose 
remains were found enclosed in the old volcanic tuff of a long 
extinct volcano of Central France, (Auvergne). The man to 
whom these remains belonged must have lived when the vol- 
canoes were still in activity ; and that this activity pertains to a 
long-past geological period, is proved by the circumstance that 
the remains of the Cave Hyena and Hippopotamus have been 
met with in similar blocks of tuff in the same region.. Sir 
Charles also notices the human fossil of Natchez on the Mis- 
sissippi, which was found in the so-called Mammoth fissure, 
associated with bones of Mastodon and Megalonyx, (animals 
long since extinct and belonging to a past geological period). 
Further, a human skeleton found in 1823, by Ami Boue,* near 
Lahr in Baden, (opposite Strasbourg), in the so-called Loess 
of the Rhine valley, (a product of the glacial period), and the 
human jaw from the Loess near Maestricht, (in Hollerd), which 
was found during the construction of a canal, (1815 to 1823), 
together with the bones of extinct animals, and is now preserved 
in the Museum at Leyden. All these bones were discovered 
under such circumstances and in such a condition that, if they 
had only been the bones of animals, no one would have thought 
of doubting their being fossils. But as they were«human bones, 

* See Appendix No. 3. 



OUR ORIGIN. 45 

doubt seemed to be perfectly legitimate so iong as the old 
general prejudice still existed. Now, however, Sir Charles 
Lyell, who has seen and examined them all, declares them to 
be decidedly fossils, that is to say, belonging to a different 
geological period from that in which we live. Sir Charles 
comes to the same conclusion with regard to the skeleton of 
the celebrated Neanderthal man,* found in 1856, in a limestone 

* The details of this remarkable discovery, which attracted so much attention, 
may be found in Professor Schaaffhausen's memoir, Zur Kennthiss der altesten 
Rassenschcidel, as also-in an essay by Professor C. Fuhlrott, entitled : The fossil 
man from the Neanderthal and his relations to the antiquity of the Human Race, 
(Duisburg, 1865.) The last mentioned author, who was also the first investigator 
and describer of these remarkable bones, says: "The position and general 
arrangement of the locality in which they were found, of which I published a 
description at the time, place it in my judgment beyond doubt, that the bones 
belong to the Diluvium and therefore to primitive times, i. e., they come down to 
us from a period of the past when our native country was still inhabited by various 
kinds of animals, especially Mammoths and Cave-bears, which have long since 
disappeared out of the series of living creatures." The human bones discovered 
agree in all essential respects with the fossil remains of antediluvian animals which 
were brought to light under perfectly analogous circumstances from other caverns 
and fissures of the same limestone range and in the immediate vicinity, and they 
possess properties which plead in favor of a high antiquity for them. The whole 
of the bones, but especially the cranium, are characterized by their uncommon 
thickness and by the very strong development of all tubercles, crests and ridges 
which serve for the attachment of muscles, a peculiarity such as is usually observed 
in the bones of savage and very muscular men (and animals.) We shall refer 
hereafter to the very peculiarly formed skull of the Neanderthal man. 

The fossil state of the Neanderthal skeleton is still further strongly confirmed 
by the discovery in the.summer of 1865 of numerous fossil bones and teeth of 
animals (Rhinoceros, Cave-Bear, Cave-Hyena, etc.,) in the loam-deposit of the 
so-called Teufelskammer, a cavern situated only 130 paces distant from the Feld- 
hofner Cave (in which the Neanderthal man was found) and on the same side of 
the Neanderthal. According to the report upon this discovery given by Professor 
Schaaffhausen to the Natural History Society of the Lower Rhine and published in 
the Kolnische Zeititng, of April 1, 1866, a great part of these bones, especially those 
of the Cave-Bears, agree in color, weight, density and the preservation of their 
microscopic structure with the human bones found in the Feldhofner Cave, and 
both are covered with the same dendrites or tree-like markings. 

Finally it is to be remarked that the loam-deposit which partly fills the caves of 
the Neanderthal and the clefts and fissures of its limestone mountains, and in 
which both the Neanderthal bones and the fossil bones and teeth of animals were 
imbedded, is exactly the same that, in the caverns of the Neanderthal, covers the 
whole limestone mountain with a deposit from 10 to 12 feet in thickness, and the 
diluvial origin of which is unmistakable. (See, for details, the essay of Fuhlrott 
already cited.) 



46 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

cavern in the valley of the Neander, near Diisseldorf. To this 
we shall have to refer in more detail hereafter, on account of the 
peculiar interest which it possesses in connection with the primi- 
tive history of man. Since Sir Charles wrote, a whole series of 
discoveries of human bones, in caves and elsewhere, have been 
made. In their texture and mode of deposition all these re- 
mains possess more or less of the same significance as those 
already referred to, and have a similar claim to be regarded as 
fossil, but their enumeration here would detain us too long.* 
Many of them, however, will be mentioned more particularly in 
connection with other matters. 

*I refer here to the discoveries (not mentioned by Lyell) of human bones in the 
caves of L'hombrive and L'herm, which are described more particularly by Carl 
Vogt in his Lectures on Matt, (Giessen, 1863,) and which justify the conclusion, 
that man must have lived contemporaneously with the extinct cave-animals ; to 
the human bones discovered by Lartet and Christy in the cave of Les Eyzies, 
(Perigord), probably belonging to the period of the Mammoth ; to the human 
lower jaw found by the Marquis de Vibraye in the grotto of Arcy in Burgundy ; 
to the extremely animal human jaw of the Mammoth period found in the cave of 
La Naulette in Belgium, and to the flint axes of the diluvium, as well as to numer- 
ous analogous discoveries made in many bone-caves in France, Belgium, England, 
Germany and other places. Everywhere human remains or productions were 
found together with the bones of primeval, extinct or displaced animals under 
conditions which exclude the idea of subsequent fortuitous admixture. Among 
the discoveries of human bones outside the caverns we may also cite : The teeth 
described by Jaeger and Quenstedt from the Bohnerz of Wiirtenberg, — the 
human teeth found in an ancient travertine near Rome upon which Ponzi has re- 
ported, — the human skull in the Natural History Museum at Stuttgart, which 
was dug out in 1700 from the calcareous tuff of Canstatt in company with bones 
of the Mammoth, and which resembles the Neanderthal skull in its low, narrow 
forehead and strong superciliary arches ; the fossil human jaw from the gravel- 
pits of Ipswich in Suffolk, which was exhibited to the Ethnological Society of 
London in April, 1865, and which, besides its very low structure and the great 
amount of iron contained in it, exhibited all the characters of very high antiquity ; 
the remains of a human skull found quite recently by Professor Cocchi in the 
valley of the Arno near Florence in diluvial clay, together with various bones of 
extinct species of animals, and which, according to Carl Vogt, are of like antiquity 
with the Engis and Neanderthal skulls ; the human bones which A. Issel states 
that he found in Pliocene deposits (therefore belonging to the Tertiary period) 
in the neighborhood of the town of Savona in Liguria, (the find of Colle del 
Vento), and which bear all the physical signs of very high antiquity, and others. 
These and a number of similar discoveries of various dates require, however, a 
more accurate testing and establishment by scientific authorities, before they can 
be employed as satisfactory scientific evidence. 



OUR ORIGIN. 47 

But even now we have by no means exhausted the proofs of 
the high antiquity of the human race upon the earth. . There is 
still a third series of proofs, (which, however, must be passed 
over here in a very rapid sketch), and for these we are almost 
exclusively indebted to the celebrated and indefatigable French 
palaeontologist, E. Lartet. Although the geologist, who pays 
attention only to the position of the strata and the possibility of 
their having undergone disturbances after their original deposi- 
tion, may still perhaps entertain some doubt upon the subject,* 
this evidence can leave no doubt on the mind of the zoologist 
and palaeontologist as to the contemporaneity of man and the 
Diluvial animals. The proofs in question consist in the traces 
of the action of man upon the bones of extinct animals. Even 
before Lartet, such things were known. Thus in Sweden and 
Iceland signs of wounds made by the hand of man during the 
life of the animals had been found upon the osseous remains of 
an Auroch, {Bos priscus), and of an Irish-Deer, and the same 
fact is said to have been observed in America upon injured bones 
of the Mastodon. But our first accurate and certain knowledge 
upon this point was furnished by Lartet, who has made the 
subject his special study. He indicates, in France, nine char- 
acteristic Diluvial animals, namely, the Cave Bear, the Cave 
Lion, the Cave Hyena, the Mammoth, the Rhinoceros with a 
bony septum to the nostrils, {R. tichorhinus~) , the great Irish- 

* In fact such doubts have been raised by certain French savants, such as Elie 
de Beaumont, Eugene Robert and others, notwithstanding the extreme improb- 
ability of their having any solid foundation from a geological point of view, — 
and the true diluvial character of the axe-bearing deposits has been questioned. 
Even if such doubts may be scientifically and geologically well-founded they must 
vanish before the immense mass of other facts and evidence leading from all sides 
to the same result. Moreover, at present all the more considerable savants of 
the world, almost without exception, admit that the evidence of the contempo- 
raneity of man with the great Pachyderms of the quaternary epoch and with the 
diluvial animals in general is complete. A sharp criticism of the objections to 
the genuineness of the flint-instruments raised by Eugene Robert, Decaisne and 
others, will be found in a small work by Gabriel de Mortillet ; Les Mystifiis de 
? Academie des Sciences, Paris, 1865. 



4^ MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

Deer, the Reindeer, the Aurochs and the Urus. By the occur- 
rence of these species he distinguishes four successive periods, 
of which that of the Cave Bear is the most ancient, that of the 
Mammoth and Rhinoceros the second, and that of the Urus the 
most recent. Now Lartet has ascertained that bones of nearly- 
all these animals show unmistakable signs of the operations of 
man, either during the life of the animals or while the bones 
were still in a fresh state, the bones being sometimes injured by 
wounds, sometimes worked upon and sometimes broken or split. 
The last form of human interference is that most frequently met 
with, and its objecl; was evidently to enable the marrow to be 
taken out of the bones, this having been apparently as great a 
dainty with our earliest ancestors as it still is among both savage 
and civilized people.* Many bones also exhibit a peculiar stria- 
tion, as if the flesh had been scraped from them with knives or 
flint flakes. 

But besides all this, there are numerous indications of some- 
what artistic work, such as drawings, rough sculptures and the 
like. These are rude figures or outlines, generally representing 
animals then living, engraved by means of fragments of flint 
upon the bones and horns of the great Irish Deer, the Rein- 
deer, etc. With some of these were found fragments or plates 
of schist with engraved outlines of animals, especially of the 
Elk and Reindeer, but some also of much more ancient species, 
such as the Mammoth or long-haired Elephant, etc. Even the 
rude and imperfecl outline of the figure of a man has been dis- 

* That this special fondness for marrow persisted long after the times of pri- 
meval man is proved by a notice by the Greek writer Procopius, who lived about 
the year 550. In his Gothic History he describes people, whom he calls the 
Scrithifinns, living in the extreme north of Scandinavia, and states as the principal 
indication of their savage state, that the children are nourished not with their 
mother's milk, but with the marrow of animals. As soon as the child was born, 
the mother wrapped it up in a skin, hung it upon a tree, put some marrow in its 
mouth, and then went straight off to the chase again. An excellent mode of 
rearing children, and one that certainly is to be recommended from the point of 
view of economy of time I 




irkmen in the valley 
omme have named 
er of these spear or 
ids en amande, and 
ir langues de chat ; 
rig the many thou- 
dch have been dis- 
not one has been 
which shows a trace 
ng or grinding. 



FLINT INSTRUMENTS FROM HOXNE — HALF THE ORIGINAL SIZE. 

"The presence of implements of this type in gravel drifts," says Hodder M. 
Westropp, Introductory Essays on Pre-Historic Archceology, "which geological 
evidence assigns to a very remote period, and in conjunction with bones of ex- 
tinct animals, argue a very remote antiquity for their manufacture, and a very 
early date for the men who fabricated them. The extreme rudeness of the im- 
plements bespeak a corresponding rudeness and barbarous condition of the 
men who made them, and induce a belief in the inferiority of this primitive race. 

"These implements have a deep claim on our interest, as they make known to 
us the earliest productions of the hand of man — as they mark the first step in 
human industry, and as they show, in the most unequivocal manner, ' the length 
of time which must have elapsed since the first appearance of man in Western 
Europe.' " 



OUR ORIGIN. 49 

covered, engraved upon a fragment of Reindeer horn, between 
two very characteristic horse's heads. These drawings, which 
are of course very rough and often very grotesque, display to 
us the very infancy of art ; nevertheless from the unanimous 
testimony of those who have seen them, they are so characteris- 
tic that we may recognize at the first glance the animals or ob- 
jects which they were intended to represent. The figures of 
the Reindeer and the Mammoth* are particularly distinct;. 
Thus M. de Lastic found in the cave of Bruniquel, on the 
banks of the Arveyron, a bone adorned with carvings, on 
which were engraved a perfectly recognizable horse's head 
and the head of a Reindeer, the latter easily identified by the 
form of its antlers. The handles of daggers made of ivory or 
bone have also been found, on which the above-mentioned 
animals were represented at full length. Reindeer horn is the 
substance most frequently engraved upon or worked, and adapt- 
ed to all sorts of purposes. 

In all, Lartet has discovered and enumerated seventeen locali- 
ties, where these objects have been found and where, according 
to him, man undoubtedly lived contemporaneously with the 
animals just referred to. In the year 1864, he and Christy first 

* A plate of ivory, broken into several pieces which were imbedded separately in 
ossiferous loam hardened by the infiltration of lime, showed, when put togeth r, 
(as described by Carl Vogt in an essay published in the Kolnische Zeitung for 
1866) the outlines of no less than three elephants walking one behind the other, 
of which however the entire body only of the middle one was visible. By the 
curvature of his teeth, the long mane flowing down from the withers and ihe 
dense hairiness of the lower surface it was at once shown to be a Mammoth drawn 
from the life. Figures of the Reindeer are extraordinarily frequent; the animal 
is shown in the most various positions and is readily recognizable by its antlers 
and hair-tufts. On a piece of slate in the possession of the Marquis de Vibraye 
the artist has even ventured upon the representation of a group of Reindeer 
fighting with each other. Usually several animals of the same species or groups 
of them are represented, a leader preceding them, whilst the others follow repre- 
sented at half length. " In many groups we seem to recognize a cautious 
watching with the nose and eye, the scenting of peril." 

As regards the representation of a human figure mentioned in the text, this 
appears to be naked, and in the meagerness of the hips and tighs and the promi- 
nence of the belly reminds us rather of the Australian than of the European type. 



50 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

exhibited to the French Academy a number of such specimens 
from the numerous bone-caves of the Dordogne ; the inspection 
of these carried conviction to the most incredulous.* But a few 
years later the quantity of these remarkable objects had become 

* Christy deposited in Paris a rich collection of such objects, which furnished a 
very distinct picture of that distant time. In 1866 Professor Schaaffhausen of 
Bonn, laid before the 23d General Meeting of the Natural History Society of the 
Rhineland and Westphalia, various implements of this kind made of the bones 
and horns of the Reindeer, such as arrow-heads with barbs, needles and dagger- 
like knives, together with models of other objects, upon some of which pictures 
of animals presenting the most striking likeness were cut. All these objects were 
imbedded with flint knives and bones and teeth of the Reindeer in a solid calcare- 
ous concretion. — A whole block of this remarkable breccia had been presented by 
Lartet at the Professor's request to the Museum at Poppelsdorf. To this the 
Proffessor added a description of some similar discoveries in the Todtenfeld at 
Uelde, not far from Lippstadt in Westphalia, the numerous bone-caves of which 
promise, when carefully examined, to furnish results no less interesting to the 
student of prehistoric times than those obtained from the caves of Belgium and 
the South of France. At the above-mentioned locality there were found numer- 
ous broken human bones, with perforated teeth of the Wolf, Dog and Horse, 
mixed with rude flint knives and an awl made from the metatarsal bone of a stag. 
The mode in which the human bones were broken leaves scarcely any doubt, 
according to Schaaffhausen, that here the remains of a meal of cannibals have 
been preserved, the same thing having rlready beerr proved by Spring with 
regards to the discoveries in the cave of Chauvaux in Belgium. 

In 1865, Professor July of Toulouse, when lecturing upon fossil man in the Rue 
de la Paix at Paris, laid before his auditors some still more interesting objects : — 
" Here," he said, "are two lower jaws of the Cave-Bear, which have very proba- 
bly been fractured by man in the living animal, and in which union has taken 
place in the normal way. Here is a skull of the same species (skull from Nabrigas) 
which has been pierced in its frontal part by a flint arrow. It is also a flint arrow that 
we see still adhering to this vertebra of a young Reindeer found in the cave of 
Les Eyzies by MM. Lartet and Christy. Lastly I must tell you that Major 
Wanchope has found a flint hammer buried in the skull of a gigantic Deer 
{Megaceros hibermcus.) 

"This tooth of Ursus spelaeus (the Cave Bear) which has served to make a 
knife of which the enamel forms the edge, — this phalange of the same animal, 
pierced with a hole which traverses it from side to side, — these barbed arrow-heads 
made of the bones of the Stag and Reindeer, and the grooves in which seem still 
ready to receive the poison which formerly rendered them so dangerous, — these 
antlers on which the flint saw has so clearly left its mark, — and these bones of 
lost species, fashioned into knives, polishers, awls, pins, needles, and even into 
whistles or objects of ornament, — will not so many combined proofs gain you 
over to the cause of M. Boucher de Perthes, which is also ours ? It is very 
evident that the bones thus worked could only be so treated in the fresh state, &c." 




J w Jit, » i < 

Wf ftp 8 *"* ■ 

IMPLEMENTS OF CHIPPED STONE. EUROPE. 








IMPLEMENTS OF POLISHED STONE. EUROPE. 



OUR ORIGIN. 51 

so great, that in the Paris Exhibition of the year 1867, whole 
glass cases were filled with these and the other material proofs 
of the prehistoric existence of man. Gabriel de Mortillet, the 
celebrated French archaeogeologist, concluded a report upon 
this portion of the Exhibition in these memorable words : 
' ' The contemporaneity of man with those species of animals 
which last became extinct, his contemporaneity with the Rein- 
deer as an indigenous animal in France, is amply, positively and 
irrevocably proved by the discovery of the products of human 
industry abundantly mixed with the remains of these animals, 
which have now become extinct or have emigrated, in un- 
disturbed quaternary beds and in the midst of cave deposits 
which have never been disturbed. Upon this point the glass- 
cases, which occupy the left hand side of the first gallery of the 
history of French industry, can leave no doubt. They are 
quite sufficient to convince any one, however incredulous or 
obstinate. 

"The glass-case showing the state of art in the Reindeer 
period furnishes a still more decisive demonstration. The hand 
of man has perfectly represented not only the Reindeer, an 
animal which has now emigrated, but also the great Cave- 
Bear, the Cave-Tiger and the Mammoth, all extinct animals, 
and this has been done upon the spoils of the Reindeer and the 
Mammoth themselves. Man was therefore incontestably con- 
temporaneous with the animals of which he employed various 
parts and which he figured so accurately. It is impossible to 
have a more convincing demonstration." — {Revue des cours 
scientifiques ; 1867, page 703.) 

The discoveries of Lartet and his followers relate only to the 
bones of so-called Diluvial animals. But within the last few 
year, further discoveries in the same direction have been made 
known by a French naturalist, M. Desnoyers, and if these 
prove to be correct, they will carry back the antiquity of the 
human race upon the earth to a period of which no one hitherto 



52 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

ventured even to dream, except perhaps upon purely hypo- 
thetical grounds. These consist of the traces of human action 
on the bones of animals belonging to the Tertiary period, found 
in the gravel-beds of St. Prest near Chartres in France. They 
are said to be perfectly analogous to the traces of human action 
observed on bones from the Diluvial period. 

The Tertiary period forms, as is well-known, the last of the 
three great sections, (the Primary, Secondary and Tertiary 
periods), under which it is usual to arrange the fossiliferous 
strata of the earth, and consequently its geological history. 
The Tertiary immediately preceded the Diluvial period. Sir 
Charles Lyell has personally examined the specimens referred 
to and regards the conclusions which have been drawn from 
them as certainly very probable, although, on the whole, in his 
Antiquity of Man, he expresses himself rather doubtfully about 
the matter. On the other hand Carl Vogt, (in his Vorleswigen 
uber den Menschen and in the Archiv fur Anthropologic), 
declares, that the discovery is a genuine one and open to no 
doubt. He also maintains that the formation in which these 
bones were found, is decidedly Tertiary and therefore geologi- 
cally older than the French Diluvial formations. According to 
him it is characterized by the presence of the Southern Ele- 
phant, (Elephas meredionalis), and belongs to an epoch which 
undoubtedly preceded the 'glacial period and the age of the 
Cave Bear, the Mammoth and the Tichorhine Rhinoceros. 
The French naturalist Ouatrefages also takes the side of 
Desnoyers, and declares that his investigations bear the im- 
press of the most severe and careful study. Desnoyers' testi- 
mony is the more valuable as, up to the year 1845, he was one 
of the most decided opponents of the notion of the existence 
of fossil man. 

Its value is still further increased by a communication made 
by Abbe Bourgeois to the International Congress of Prehistoric 
Anthropology and Archaeology held at Paris in the year 



OUR ORIGIN. 53 

1867. — In the very same Tertiary strata of St. Prest, in which 
Desnoyers found worked bones, M. Bourgeois discovered im- 
plements of stone. He afterwards stated that he had also found 
numerous worked flints in strata likewise of Tertiary age in 
the commune of Thenay near Pontlevoy, and from this and 
some other discoveries he concluded, that the existence of man 
reached a very high antiquity, extending even into the Tertiary 
period. He added that Abbe Delaunay had found near 
Pouance, (Maine et Loire), fossil bones of a Halitherium, 
(a herbivorous cetacean of the Miocene or Middle Tertiary 
period), with evident signs of having been operated upon with 
cutting instruments. 

Lastly, M. A. Issel communicated to the same congress a 
notice of several human bones which, as he stated, he had 
found in beds of the Pliocene age, (i. e. , belonging to the last 
section of the Tertiary period), in the neighborhood of the town 
of Savona in Liguria, and which presented all the physical 
tokens of very high antiquity. (See the Compte rendu du 
Cong-res international d' Anthropologic et d' Archeologie pre- 
hislorique. Paris, 1868). 

As a matter of course we can only hope that these remarkable 
discoveries will be confirmed in course of time, and after they 
have been submitted to a careful, critical examination. But, if 
they prove to be well founded, they are doubtless strongly in 
favor of the conjectures of those naturalists who, upon theoretical 
grounds alone, have held that the earliest appearance of man 
upon the earth must be referred back at all events to the last and 
perhaps even to the middle or the earliest section of the great 
Tertiary period. 

In this summary the evidences in favor of the great antiquity 

, of the existence of man are exhausted, at all events in their 

principal outlines. But we could not mention in it those 

evidences which, leaving geological times out of consideration 

altogether, are derived from the present epoch — from the period 



54 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

of the earth's formation which is now passing. And yet the 
alluvium or so-called recent formations furnish evidence of a 
very high antiquity of the human race upon the earth — an 
antiquity indeed which leaves far behind it not only the truly 
historical periods, but even the times of Biblical tradition. For 
whilst the latter can only be calculated backwards to five or 
seven thousand years at the utmost, the duration of the alluvial 
period according to the calculations of Geologists was at least a 
hundred thousand years, and perhaps still more, so that this 
alone gives a very wide range in time for the so-called pre- 
historic existence of man. 

Moreover, the evidence derived from this source has one 
great advantage over the earlier proofs ; it does not rest upon 
argument, but, at least in part, upon direct calculation and ob- 
servation. The discoveries made in the alluvial deposits are 
now, as might be expected, very numerous and varied; only a 
few of the best known will be cited here as examples. 

In the years 1851 to 1854, experimental borings were made in 
the Delta of the Nile in Lower Egypt, and objects of human 
handiwork or fragments of pottery were found at depths of 
sixty to seventy feet. Reckoning the thickness of the alluvial 
deposits in the Delta of the Nile at five inches in a century, we 
obtain for these relics of human activity an antiquity of 14,400 
to 17,300 years. But if we follow M. Rosiere in estimating the 
rate of deposition at only two and one-half inches in a century, 
we obtain for a fragment of red brick found by Linant Bey, 
at a depth of seventy-two feet, an antiquity of thirty thousand 
years. Burmeister who assumes that the addition to the thick- 
ness of the soil in Lower Egypt is three and one-half inches in 
the century, and that since the appearance of man in that region 
two hundred feet have been deposited, extends his calculation 
of the antiquity of man to no less than seventy-two thousand 
years. (See his Geologische Brief e. ) 

In Sweden a fisherman's hut was excavated, the age of which 



OUR ORIGIN. 55 

is to be reckoned at ten thousand years or even more. Another 
similar discovery was made in the same country, during the 
digging of a canal between Stockholm and Gothenburg, when 
a hearth built of stones, with fragments of wood charcoal, was 
found beneath an accumulation of ' ' Osars ' ' or erratic blocks in 
the deepest layer of the subsoil, proving that man must have 
dwelt on that spot during and even before the so-called glacial 
period. 

In Florida, (North America), portions of human skeletons 
were found in a bank composed of coral-rock, the age of which 
is calculated by Agassiz to be at least ten thousand years. On 
the same continent, in the Mississippi delta, during the excava- 
tion of the gas works at New Orleans, human bones, (including 
a skull, exhibiting all the characteristics of the aboriginal South 
American race,) were found at a depth of sixteen feet, beneath 
six different alluvial beds. The antiquity of these remains is 
estimated by Dr. Dowler at from fifty to sixty thousand years. 
This estimate has been repeatedly attacked with a view to in- 
validate it, but Carl Vogt, who reproduces the whole calculation 
in his Lectures on Man, says it is impregnable. According to 
Broca all the endeavors that have been made to diminish the 
antiquity assigned to this celebrated discovery, have been in- 
capable of reducing it below fifteen thousand years. Sir Charles 
Lyell, (in his Antiquity of Man), cites an old sea-bottom, strewn 
with fragments of ancient pottery, near Cagliari, (Sardinia), 
which must have an antiquity of at least seventeen thousand years. 

A few years ago, in making a railway near Villeneuve on the 
Lake of Geneva, the section of a conical hill of alluvium was 
exposed, and from the contents of this Dr. Morlot inferred an 
antiquity of from seven to ten thousand years for the existence 
of Man at that spot.* 

•Here, also, we must refer to the celebrated Pile-buildings or 
Lake-dwellings of Switzerland, Italy, etc. , which have attracted 

*See Appendix No. 4. 



56 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

so much attention of late years. These prove beyond the 
shadow of a doubt the existence of a primeval, prehistoric, 
semi-aquatic population in Europe, of whose existence history 
gives us no hint whatever.* 

To the same category belong the vast, primeval turf-moors 
of Denmark and Iceland, which conceal in their bosoms in- 
numerable proofs of the very high antiquity of man in these 
regions ;f the ancient Mounds or Earthworks in the valleys of 
the Mississippi and Ohio in North America, which also incon- 
testably prove the existence of a very ancient population already 
considerably advanced in civilization, which possessed and cul- 
tivated the land long before its occupation by the red Indian 
hunters; X and lastly the wonderful Danish shell-heaps or kitchen- 

*See Appendix No. 5. t See Appendix No. 6. 

% When America was first discovered and for a long- time afterwards, that 
continent was regarded as destitute of all ancient civilization, analogous to that of 
Europe. He ace people were the more surprised when, by the investigations of 
Squier and Davis on the Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, the 
opposite was proved, and it was shown that, long before the times of the Indian 
Redskin, those plains must have been the seat of a considerable civilization. 
Great walls of earth, ruins of towns, remains of statuary, objects of gold, silver and 
copper, pottery, ornaments, stone- weapons, &c, prove that the western hemi- 
spheres were not always interminable forests and endless prairies, serving no 
other purpose than that of forming a hunting-ground for the red hunters. The 
earth-mounds, which are often so large that four of them together exceed the 
great Egyptian pyramid in cubic contents, may have served in part as temples, 
in part a; burying places, and in part as fortifications. The Europeans who 
made tluir way there found the mounds covered with a dense forest in which the 
red Indian hunter dwelt, without any traditional connection with his civilized 
predecessors; and from the growth of plants and trees upon the earth-works an 
approximate antiquity of several thousand years before the European immigra- 
tion has been assigned to them. The human skulls which have been exhumed in 
some places belong to a different race of men from those now living. 

Quite recently, in South America, mummies with brown hair have been dis- 
covered. If this brown-haired race came from Europe this must have happened 
long before all history ; and on the western shores of that continent a civilization 
must have flourished, of which all traces had already disappeared when the 
Roman dominion was extended over Britain, Gaul and Spain. 

According to Scherzer (Vortrag auf der Naturforscher-Versammlung in Wien, 
1856) , the Toltecs met with by the Spaniards are the architects of the monuments and 
buildings in the interior of America. They first appear in the seventh century upon 
the plateau of Mexico, and their remnants still linger in Central America. 




IMPLEMENTS OF CHIPPED STONE. NORTH AMERICA. 







-\ V 








STONE ARROW-HEADS, MODERN. CANADA. 



OUR ORIGIN. 57 

middens, (Kjokkenmoddings), consisting of enormous heaps of 
the shells of marine animals, especially Oysters, which have 
served for the nourishment of primeval men, by whom their 
shells have thus been accumulated. These heaps, which are 
placed upon the sea-shore, are often as much as one thousand 
feet in length, by one hundred to two hundred feet in breadth, 
and five to ten feet in height. They occur on the coasts of 
Zealand and Jutland and of the islands of Fiinen, Moen, 
Samsoe, etc., and also on some parts of the Swedish and 
Genoese coasts, always along the creeks and bays, where the 
force of the waves is great, and generally at the very edge of 
the water, except in those places where alluvial deposits or 
elevations of the land have subsequently removed them to a 
greater distance. In these shell-heaps direct traces of the ex- 
istence of man are always found, especially weapons and other 
instruments of stone, horn and bone, fragments of clumsy 
pottery, stone-wedges, stone-knives, etc., in great abundance, 
accompanied by fragments of charcoal and ashes, but no traces 
of corn, bronze or iron, or of orchard fruits or domestic animals, 
with the sole exception of thfi Dog. The numerous bones of 
animals which have been found, belong chiefly to the Urus, 
the Aurochs, the Stag, the Roe-deer, the Wild Boar, the Fox, 
Wolf, Beaver, Otter, etc. , and all the bones containing marrow 
have been split up for the purpose of extracting from them that 
favorite article of food. Human bones never occur in the 
kitchen-middens, probably because the people who formed 
them were accustomed to bury their dead.* 

That these shell-mounds or offal-heaps must be of great an- 
tiquity, reaching indeed into a period geologically separate 

* By the exertions of the Danish archaeologist Worsaae, the Museum of Northern 
antiquities and the geological Museum of the University of Copenhagen, contain 
an extraordinary abundance of objects from the kitchen-middens brought there 
and exhibited in their natural state. These shell-heaps have long been known, 
but they were regarded as natural deposits until, in the year 1847, three dis- 
tinguished Danish savants, Steenstrup, Forchhammer and Worsaae, investigated 
them thoroughly and ascertained their artificial origin. 



58 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

from ours, is proved by the circumstance that shells of the 
marine Mollusca contained in them, (such as the Oyster, Ostrea 
edulis, the Cockle, Cardium edule, the Mussel, Mytilus edulis, 
etc.), are still of a size which is never attained by representa- 
tives of the same species now living in the Baltic. Living 
specimens are not more than one-half or even one-third of the 
size of those in the shell-mounds. The cause of the diminution of 
size is as follows : The Baltic, being no longer freely in com- 
munication with the Ocean and receiving the waters of numer- 
ous rivers, does not retain the character of a true sea, but is 
merely brackish, whilst these Molluscs require to live in the 
salt-water of the open sea in order that they may attain their 
full size. This is the case in a particularly remarkable degree 
with the common Oyster, which, as has been stated, is very 
abundant in the shell-mounds ; this mollusc does not now 
occur in the Baltic except just at its entrance, where it com- 
municates with the open Ocean. From this we must conclude 
that, at the time when these heaps were formed, the Baltic had 
quite a different form from that which it now possesses, and 
especially that its communication with the Atlantic ocean was 
much more free and open. Nevertheless, the kitchen-middens, 
notwithstanding their high antiquity, belong only to the recent 
or alluvial period, as they contain only the bones of animals still 
living. The sole exception to this statement is the Wild Bull 
or Urus, (Bos primigenius or Urus), which, however, was seen 
by Caesar. Quite recently similar shell-mounds have been dis- 
covered upon a great extent of the coasts of both North and 
South America.* 

* Shell-mounds and kitchen-refuse have been found in America in great 
abundance. In South America on the east coast, on the Pacific ocean, in Brazil 
and Guayaquil and on the east coast of North America, near Halifax in Nova 
Scotia and on Margaret's Bay. These last contain only implements of the stone- 
age ; and with these are found bones of the Mocse, Bear, Beaver, Porcupine, &c. 
The shells found belong to the species, Venus mercenaria, Pecten islandicus, 
Crepedula formicata and Mytilus edulis, the last in so fragile or soft a condition, 



OUR ORIGIN. 59 

To the pile-dwellings, kitchen-middens and the like, we must 
add as the last and latest term in the series of traces of his 
existence left by prehistoric man in the alluvial soils, the tumuli 
or "giant's graves," as they are sometimes called, which were 
formerly supposed to contain the bones of a race of giants who 
lived before man, and also the remarkable objects known as 
Dolmens or ' ' stone tables. ' ' But although the grave-mounds 
and stone monuments themselves are gigantic, the men who 
built them were nothing of the kind, but rather of smaller stature 
than the men of the present day.* They were probably sup- 
planted by the taller, more powerful and more civilized race of 
the Celts, with whose appearance on the scene the first dawn of 
history in central Europe commences. 

With these, therefore, we have arrived at the close of that 
series of facts fitted to throw some light upon the prehistoric 
existence and high antiquity of man upon the earth, and conse- 
quently at the end of our description of the whole matter before us. 
This subject can only be sketched here in its most general out- 
lines and so as to show its most prominent points, just as an 
Alpine traveler standing in the centre of a mountain-panorama 
is usually told the names only of the most prominent and strik- 
ing of the infinite chain of peaks and mountains surrounding 
him, whilst the hundreds of smaller peaks, though in their own 
way perhaps equally remarkable, are passed over in silence. 
Certainly the questions which naturally arise from the con- 
sideration of these facts as to the antiquity and origin of our 

as to fall to pieces when touched. A traveler, Clement Markham, has recently 
given a more accurate account of the shell-mounds found on the coast of Ecuador, 
not far from Guayaquil; they consist of fragments of pottery and of four 
different sea-shells, one of which is extinct in that region. Many cutting instru- 
ments made of quartz-crystals were also found. 

As regards the absence of human bones in the shell-mounds mentioned in the 
text, the rule appears to be not without exceptions. At least it is stated in the 
Anthropological Review, (February, 1865, page xxix.), that human bones have 
been found in the shell-mounds of Caithness, in the same state as the bones of 
animals associated with them. 

* See Appendix No. 7. 



60 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

race, or the consequences which we are justified in deducing 
from them, are of more importance and significance than the 
facts themselves. 

Thus, what is truly the antiquity of the human race upon the 
earth reckoned in years? What is the relation of this antiquity 
to the antiquity of the earth itself? And what is its relation 
to the periods of history and popular tradition ? How is it 
that we have no historical traditions of this earliest period? 
And what is the relation between the primitive time and the 
primitive condition of our race in prehistoric periods ? Are we 
to suppose that man has gradually struggled from a low and 
rude state into civilization ? or that he fell from a primitive state 
of high cultivation, only to work his way again to the same 
condition at a later period ? and if the former be the case, how 
has his gradual advance to his present state of civilization been 
effected? All these questions, which are almost immediately 
connected with the highest interests of humanity, we shall now 
endeavor to answer to the best of our power, and so far as the 
present state of knowledge will permit. But before doing so 
we may remark that these questions and conclusions do not 
merely occupy our intelligence, but must also appeal to our 
emotions, when we consider the immense series of races which 
have disappeared before our time, and the immeasurable 
grandeur of that Creation in the midst of which we live. 

As regards the first question, or that of the determination by 
years of the antiquity of the human race, any such calculation is 
excessively difficult except in the case of the alluvial deposits. 
With respect to these we know pretty nearly the depth of 
deposit produced in a certain time, and then according to the 
depth at which human remains or objects of human workman- 
ship have been found, we may calculate the time which must 
have elapsed since those objects were deposited there. But as 
soon as we pass from the Recent period to the so-called geo- 
logical periods, we no longer possess any such standard of 




IMPLEMENTS OF POLISHED STONE. NORTH AMERICA. 



OUR ORIGIN. 6l 

measurement and have to depend solely upon approximate data. 
Hence this question has been answered in the most different 
ways. In Geology we know no absolute numbers, but only such 
as are relative or proportional. We do not even know exactly 
the total length of the Alluvial period which separates us from 
antediluvian times, but have to depend upon calculations which 
are different in different places, and which indeed indicate an 
actual difference in the length of this period at different parts 
of the earth's surface. And as no definite line of demarcation 
exists between the Alluvium and Diluvium of the older geol- 
ogists, and as the two pass gradually one into the other, we do 
not even know how long the existence of the antediluvian 
animals, upon which, however, the whole question turns, may 
have extended into the alluvial period at particular places ; and 
we know nothing certain as to the time either of their first 
appearance or of their extinction. Nevertheless this much is 
certain, that since the time when those deposits, in which we 
find the remains of man and of Diluvial animals intermixed 
were produced, considerable geological changes must have 
taken place in the surface of the earth.* Thus, to cite only a 
few of these changes as examples of the rest, nearly all the 
European rivers had at that time, at least in part, a different 
and more elevated course; England and France were not yet 
separated by the Channel, but formed a single, continuous mass 
of land, so that the men of that period might have gone on foot 
from. London to Paris, if those cities had then been in existence; 
and the proud Thames, upon whose bosom nowadays the ships 
of all nations rest, still formed only a humble affluent of the 
German Rhine. The beautiful Switzerland, so favored by all 
tourists and lovers of Nature, was then inaccessible to human 
foot; — from the summit of the Alps to beyond the Jura, down 
to Geneva and even to far distant Soleure, it was buried beneath 

* This is a point which has been demonstrated by Lyell in his Antiquity of 
Man from a geological point of view, in great detail and with great scientific 
knowledge. 



62 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

the chilling pressure of an enormous mass of ice, which bore 
upon its mighty back gigantic fragments of rock, and rolled 
them along to places where they now look as if they had been 
transported by the hands of giants. The great desert of the 
Sahara was still overflowed by the waves of the sea ; its desert 
and burning sands were not yet exposed so as to produce that 
glowing wind, which, nowadays, after traversing the Mediter- 
ranean, melts away the winter-snows on the summits of the 
Alps as if by magic, and converts the plain of Switzerland, 
formerly buried under everlasting ice, into a blooming country 
covered with towns and villages. Lastly, the animals and plants 
then living were essentially different, in accordance with this 
different state of things, from those of the present day. 

Such important changes as these, in the structure of the 
earth's surface, in climate, in the distribution of land and water, 
and in the organic world, necessarily imply the lapse of a very 
long period of time, that is to say, long in comparison to the 
standards which the shortness of our own lives has led us to accept 
as our rules ; for in the history and development of the earth a 
thousand years count as little more than a moment in our own 
existence. 

The traces of the Diluvial period itself, the duration and 
extent of which of course are of the highest importance in this 
question, are not, as was formerly supposed, the results of one 
or several sudden catastrophes, but of a very gradual course of 
development and of multifarious and distinct natural processes. 
For their production they would certainly have required far 
more time than the formation of the Alluvium. We possess 
sufficient evidence that man must have lived* even during and 
before the glacial epoch, a subdivision of the quaternary or 
Diluvial period, probably extending very far back in it. 

From this it follows, that his existence did not merely coincide 
with the conclusion of the period of the Diluvium, but that it 

*See Appendix No. 8. 



OUR ORIGIN. 63 

extended far into that period, perhaps even to its commence- 
ment, a fact which is further proved by the deposition of the 
diluvial flint axes in the very lowest bed of the Diluvium, quite 
close to the underlying chalk. But if the discoveries of MM. 
Desnoyers, Bourgeois, etc., above referred to, prove to be 
correcl, the existence of man extends far beyond even the. 
Diluvial period and far into the great Tertiary epoch, and in 
this case his presence on the earth can only be calculated by 
hundreds of thousands of years ! 

You are doubtless startled, honored reader, by the magni- 
tude of this number; and yet in comparison with the enormous 
periods of time which the earth has seen pass away during its 
gradual devolopment and formation, it is a mere nothing. In 
the attempt to calculate the time required for the building up 
only of the stratified portion of the earth's crust, geologists have 
reached a period of from six to seven hundred millions of 
years ! Other geologists make a rather smaller calculation, 
but in this case a hundred million years more or less is of little 
consequence. 

Thus we see that, great as may be the antiquity of man in 
comparison with the periods of history or tradition, he is never- 
theless very young upon the earth itself, and under any circum- 
stances, is one of its last and most recent productions. For 
even supposing that man was in existence as early as the close 
or even the middle of the Tertiary period, he still reaches but 
a little way up in the great scale of the history of the earth. 
This scale, so far as it relates to the fossiliferous strata, has been 
divided by Lyell into thirty-six members, but this number now 
appears to be too small, as still older strata have recently been 
found to contain organic remains. In this scale then, the man 
of the Tertiary period would extend to No. 3 or No. 4, or at 
the outside to No. 5 or No. 6 ! Innumerable races of plants 
and animals preceded him in series long drawn out, and during 
almost infinite periods of time, and man himself plays, as it 



64 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

were, only in the last act of a colossal Drama, the first scenes 
of which are concealed from us by impenetrable darkness. 

Upon theoretical grounds Sir Charles Lyell regards it as very 
probable, that man lived as long ago as the Pliocene or last 
subdivision of the Tertiary period ; but he considers it im- 
probable, that the existence of the human race dates back to 
the Miocene or middle division of the same period. This latter 
opinion he founds upon the fact that about this time the general 
character of the organized world, (animals and plants), was still 
too different from that of the living forms. On the other hand, 
Sir John Lubbock asserts, that in his earliest beginnings man 
must have lived in the Miocene period, but that we can hope 
to meet with his bones or other remains from that epoch only 
in the tropical regions which have as yet been so imperfectly 
explored ! Wallace even thinks that we must refer the first 
appearance of man upon the earth still farther back, to the 
Eocene or first subdivision of the great Tertiary period. 

From this we may see, that philosophers are still much 
divided in opinion as to the real antiquity of our race upon the 
earth, and that it is still quite impossible to estimate it definitely 
in years. All that we can regard as perfectly certain is, that 
the known historical period is a mere nothing i?i point of time 
when compared with the periods during which our race has 
actually inhabited the earthy or as Lyell significantly expresses 
it, this historical period is comparatively -only a creation of 
yesterday. In this opinion all students of the subject now agree, 
even those who were formerly the most obstinate of its op- 
ponents. 

In point of fact, true history, that is, such history as we may 
consider authentic, from its being transmitted to us by credible 
written or traditional evidence, by no means attains so high an 
antiquity as is commonly believed. It only commences with 
the institution of the Greek Olympiads or with the year 776 B. C. 
The famous Trojan war is certainly a good deal older and carries 



OUR ORIGIN. 65 

us back to 1100 or 1200 years B. C. ; but the account of it is 
well known to be only a mixture of ficlion and truth. That 
the Greeks themselves did not venture to date their history 
very far back, appears from the circumstance that Hecataeus 
of Miletus, who lived 500 years B. C, expresses the opinion, 
that for some 900 years the Gods had no longer taken women 
for their wives. This, therefore, would indicate a date of 1400 
years before our era. 

Beyond this earliest dawn of history we have nothing but 
myths and traditions, oral communications transmitted from 
generation to generation, or isolated data derived from old 
documents ; or a history has been artificially compiled from 
monuments, buildings, old inscriptions, etc. Thus the tradi- 
tions of the Aryan race of mankind reach to two thousand 
years B. C. The Semitic writings place the birth of Abraham, 
the progenitor of the Jews, at about 2000 years B. C.,* and 
throw back the Deluge into the fortieth century before our era. 
From the creation to the Deluge the Bible reckons from one 
to two thousand years, and from this we get a total of from five 
to six thousand years before Christ. 

The very, ancient history of the Chinese contains two isolated 
dates as the oldest. According to their writings the Deluge 
admitted by them took place in the time of the emperor Yao, or 
in the year 2357 B. C. , and the art of writing was invented by 
Huangti as early as the year 2698 B. C. About this time, and 
whilst the Jews still led a nomadic life under the patriarchs, 
the Chinese must have already attained a very high degree of 
civilization. The mythical or legendary history of that people 
indeed reaches the enormous antiquity of 129,600 years, a lapse 
of time which, according to their traditions, was composed of 
twelve great divisions, (each of 10,800 years), and embraced 

* According to calculations made upon, the authority of the inscriptions upon 
some Assyrian tablets now in the British Museum, the time of Abraham would 
fall about the year 2290 B. C. 



66 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

three great periods, namely: the reign of darkness, the reign of 
the earth, and the reign of man. Professor Spiegel gives a 
somewhat similar account of the Babylonians, who ascribed to 
their ten most ancient patriarchs lives amounting altogether to 
432,000 years. According to Alex, von Humboldt, Strabo 
says of the aborigines of Spain, (the Turduli and Turdetani), 
' ' they make use of the art of writing and have books contain- 
ing memorials of ancient times and also poems and precepts in 
verse, for which they claim an antiquity of six thousand years." 

As regards the derivation of histor) from Monuments and 
Inscriptions, the first place is due to the most anciently civilized 
land in the world, Egypt. We all know what grand and inter- 
esting results the observations and excavations of the learned, 
aided by the deciphering of the hieroglyphical writings, have 
brought to light in that primitive land of marvels, the source of 
all the arts and sciences; and I will therefore only mention that 
all these results have been thrown into the shade by the recent 
discoveries of M. Mariette, who has found sculptures, inscrip- 
tions and statues dating back to no less than from 4000 to 4500 
years B. C. He also discovered pictures and inscriptions upon 
the walls of the tombs of that time, which leave no doubt, that 
even at that far distant period a comparatively high state of 
civilization must have existed in Egypt. 

We may judge of the high idea the Greeks must have had of 
the civilization and power of Egypt, when we find Homer, (800 
B. C), in the Iliad speaking with great admiration of the 
Egyptian Thebes with its hundred gates, from each of which 
two hundred chariots went forth to battle, (and Memphis was 
much more ancient); and Achilles cries: "Not if you offered 
me the wealth of the Egyptian Thebes with its hundred doors, 
would I stir from this place ! ' ' Consider also the pyramids of 
Egypt, forty and more in number, which could only be the 
result of the industry of a thousand years, and must be regarded 
as the monuments of a long line of royal races which have sunk 



OUR ORIGIN. 67 

one by one into the tomb. And this agrees perfectly with the 
mythical history of the Egyptians, which commences many 
thousands of years before their historical era, the latter begin- 
ning only with Menes, the first historical king of Egypt, five 
thousand years B. C* These traditions of the most ancient 
civilized peoples, reaching as they do so far back in time, con- 
sequently agree perfectly with the teachings of modern science, 
and show that some recollection, however obscure, of a far 
distant past must have been retained in the memory of these 
peoples. Thus even if all the geological and palaeontological 
evidence which has been brought forward to prove the high 
antiquity of the human race should be denied credence, this 
circumstance alone, in conjunction with the perfectly demon- 
strated high degree of civilization of the ancient Egyptians at 
least six thousand years ago, must convince us that the opinion 
hitherto prevalent and founded upon biblical authority, namely, 
that the human race is not more than six thousand years old, 
cannot possibly be correct. The adoption of such an opinion 
can only be explained by the profound ignorance which formerly 
prevailed as to the prehistoric periods of the human race. 
These were enveloped in complete and impenetrable darkness, 
illuminated by no single ray of light; but nowadays this is all 
changed, and a new science, called archcEogeology by Boucher 
de Perthes, (a combination of geology and. palaeontology with 
archaeology), has already thrown a satisfactory light upon those 
periods, and in course of time will illuminate them still more. 
Probably many of my readers will ask here : But how is it that 
there is no historical evidence of this long period which we 
call prehistoric ? Why is this subjecl enveloped in an obscurity 
so complete that we have no dire6t information upon it ? The 
answer to these questions is not difficult. 

It is evident that the state of prehistoric man was one of 
primitive and natural barbarism, in which he neither felt the 

* See Appendix No. 9. 



68 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

necessity, nor possessed the means of handing down historical 
traditions. These means could only be furnished by the inven- 
tion of the art of writing, which took place at a very late period, 
and is in itself very complicated. Until then, only oral tradition 
was known, and this indeed has existed from very ancient times. 
But even this could only prevail to a very limited extent, ham- 
pered as it would be by the deficiencies of an imperfectly 
developed language and by the want of materials worthy of 
transmission. The life of the primitive man was no doubt of 
the greatest simplicity and uniformity, and, according to our 
ideas, most wretchedly tedious. It was an uninterrupted and 
miserable strife with savage animals and with innumerable hard- 
ships of the external world ! The combats of primeval man 
with the large animals of the Diluvial or the Tertiary period 
may certainly have had in them much that was striking and 
worthy of being handed down to posterity, and we know that 
in fact, contests with animals play a very prominent part in the 
earliest legendary chronicles of all anciently civilized peoples. 
It has therefore often been supposed, and probably with justice, 
that these legends may not be wholly poetical and imaginative, 
but that they may be founded at all events partially in truth, 
and especially that the well-known terrible narrations of fearful 
battles with Dragons, monsters and wonderfully formed animals 
of enormous size, may in part have originated in the fact that man 
really saw and fought with the large and sometimes curiously 
constructed animals of the Diluvium or Tertiary period. 

Be this as it may, it is nevertheless certain that man in his 
rude, primitive and natural state was quite incapable of having 
a history, and that he must have struggled up to a certain and 
not very low degree of civilization, before he would experience 
the desire and obtain the means of communicating his experi- 
ences to posterity in a durable form. That this is not a mere 
theory, but the actual fact, may be seen clearly from the condi- 
tion of existing savages, who have lived from time immemorial 



OUR ORIGIN. 69 

in nearly the same state, and at any rate without any real or 
written history. There can be no doubt that this condition of 
our existing savages furnishes the best picture we can have of 
the primitive condition of man, and that there is an almost per- 
fect analogy between the two conditions. All the narratives of 
travelers show that there is a wonderful resemblance in the 
weapons and other implements, the customs, and the mode of 
life of the savage peoples visited by them, to those of primeval 
man, so far as we can make out the state of the latter from his 
scanty remains.* 

This leads us quite naturally to the second and last part of 
this section — to those questions as to the primitive state and 
primitive times of the human race, which follow immediately 
from our investigations into its antiquity. How was our oldest 
ancestor — the primitive man — constituted both physically and 
morally ? what did he do ? how did he live ? wherewith did he 
clothe and feed himself? How did he make his gradual progress 
towards civilization? And what can we deduce from these re- 

* In speaking of certain prehistoric discoveries made in Britain, Bernard Owen 
expressed himself as follows to the Anthropological Society of London ? "In the 
spear and arrow-heads from Caithness, the resemblance to the American weapons 
in material, form and size, and especially in the mode of attachment to the shaft, 
is so great, that the two are scarcely distinguishable." 

Of the Mexican Indians we know that they still bleed themselves with lancets 
of obsidian, (Brasseur); and eye-witnesses describe how the existing Tasmanians 
select a suitable flat stone from the ground, strike fragments from it, and employ 
it at once as an implement. 

We are acquainted with stone-implements from America which are even very 
similar to the most ancient Drift -implements. Indeed the working of stone is so 
simple that we cannot wonder that stone-implements from almost all countries, 
(Europe, Asia, America and Australia,) should be strikingly similar in appearance. 
The stone age has prevailed in every great region of the inhabited world, and 
still partially persists in America, Australia, &c. ; for there are races enough who 
have never been acquainted with the use of metals. Nay, plenty of savage tribes 
have been found who had no knowledge even of the use of fire; and until the 
arrival of Europeans, the Australians knew nothing about cooking or boiling 
food. Their nourishment consisted principally of marine animals which were 
devoured raw, just as was the case with the ancient builders of the kitchen- 
middens or shell-mounds. In Tierra del Fuego and in Brazil, moreover, extensive 
and perfectly fres/i shell-heaps of the kind above described are still to be found. 



70 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

searches into the primitive existence of man, which upset every - 

. thing previously regarded as true, and open to us a view into 

j an immensely distant past hitherto completely enveloped in 

ty, — what can we deduce from these with regard to our 

proper subje6l, namely, the position of man in nature and the 

important question, Whence do we come ? 

t is true that to enter upon this field is so far an uncertain 
and dangerous course, that with regard to most points we have 
to depend rather on assumptions, conclusions from analogy and 
the like, than on direct knowledge, and thus fancy must more 
or less lend its aid to reason in testing and arranging the 
evidence. Nevertheless, we possess a series of certain data 
which may furnish us with a tolerably perfect notion of the 
condition of primitive man, and of his excessively slow progress 
through the lapse of thousands of years to his gradual perfec- 
tion and ennoblement. And this is especially the case when 
we call in to our assistance the numerous observations which 
have been made on existing savage tribes,- in which, as already 
indicated, we have before us a very distinct and instructive pro- 
totype or representation for enabling us to judge of the condi- 
tion of our most ancient human ancestors. In all probability, 
however, the general condition of primeval man was still lower 
and more imperfect than even that of our most barbarous sav- 
ages. From the earliest period of his existence known to us, 
he has left behind him nothing in the shape of weapons or im- 
plements, except those rough stone wedges already described, 
which were produced by merely striking together nodules of 
flint in their fresh and readily cleavable state. At that early 
period he was unacquainted even with that first and most primi- 
tive of all arts, the art of making pottery, the indestructible 
remains of which are met with so abundantly at a somewhat later 
period; nor had he then any of those implements made of wood, 
horn and bone, which are also found in such plenty among the 
remains of a latter date. The difference between the man of 



OUR ORIGIN. 71 

the Diluvial and Tertiary period and the civilized man of the 
present day, must therefore have been still greater than that 
between the Australian savage and the cultivated European of 
our own time, — a difference so great that it is only with diffi- 
culty and inward reluctance that the uninstructed mind can 
resolve to admit a logical connection between that period and 
the present, and takes refuge in the most improbable theories 
of the creation of man, rather than accept the truth which lies 
so evidently before it. For upon this point at least, our ob- 
servations leave no doubt whatever. Man has not, as the old 
conception of the universe represents him, descended upon the 
earth from heaven as a child of paradise, a finished and to a 
certain extent perfect being, but, like all the rest of the organic 
world, he has gradually been developed in the course of many 
thousands of years and of innumerable generations, commencing 
his existence as a rude savage, scarcely above the grade of 
animality, and almost crushed by the forces of external nature. 
Naked, or poorly clad in the skins of animals or the bark of 
trees, living singly, or in isolated families in forests, caverns 
and clefts of the rocks, or on the banks of rivers, and armed only 
with his wretched stone-wedges, this savage or primitive man had 
to maintain an almost unceasing struggle with the overpowering 
forces of nature which surrounded him, and with the powerful 
animals of the Diluvial or Tertiary period.* Out of this contest 
he certainly would not have come as a conqueror, (perhaps, 

* It has often been considered impossible or inconceivable that the most ancient 
men, with their wretched weapons, could have held their ground before the 
gigantic animals of the past. But a glance at the still existing savages of 
America, Africa and Australia, who likewise venture, with their simple and 
imperfect weapons, to attack the most formidable animals, and even combat 
them victoriously, may teach us better. "Those must be blind," says J. P. 
Lesley "who cannot recognize the traces of this long, hard, desperate, bloody 
and diabolically cruel contest between the first men and all the adverse forces of 
the air and the earth, a contest in which all the advantages were on the side of 
Nature, and in which, nevertheless, man conquered, because the powers of mind 
and reason came to his assistance. When we consider what the weapons and 
implements of the primitive man were, our astonishment that civilization ever 
found a time and a starting point must be increased." 



72 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

indeed, he would never have begun^it), if he had not been 
supported by his comparatively great intellectual power. For, 
as regards his bodily powers, these were scarcely greater and 
probably less than those of men of the present day. 

The widely spread belief in the former existence of a race of 
human giants is perfectly erroneous, and, as already stated, 
depends solely upon the discovery of the bones of gigantic 
animals which were confounded with those of men. It is true 
that some very ancient human skeletons or parts of skeletons 
have been found, which must have belonged to comparatively 
large and very muscular men, such, for example, as the skeleton 
of the famous Neanderthal man, and the human bones recently 
found by M. Louis Lartet in one of the caverns of Perigord, 
(Les Eyzies), and probably belonging to the period of the 
Mammoth, which seem to indicate a rude, but strong and mus- 
cular race of men, with an approximation in the structure of the 
bones to the type of the apes, and with prognathous jaws, but 
nevertheless with a comparatively good development of the 
brain. On the other hand, most of the discoveries of the so- 
called Quaternary period indicate a small race, with a narrow 
skull and prognathous jaws, and therefore of a type resembling 
that of the Negroes or Mongols. In the most ancient period 
of the Mammoth and Cave Bear, the men, according to Brocca, 
{Rapport de 1865 — 6f), were not of large stature, had a narrow 
head with a retreating forehead, and oblique, (prognathous), 
jaws, in fact a general conformation of the body such as is now 
approximately met with in the lowest races of Australia and 
New Caledonia. This is proved particularly by the ape-like 
human jaw from La Naulette which will be described hereafter, 
and by the analogous bones found by the Marquis de Vibraye 
in the cave of Arcis-sur-Aube. But the existence of this rude 
and small type of man lasted until a much later period of pre- 
historic time, namely into the so-called Reindeer period ', as is 
proved especially by the discoveries made in the numerous 



OUR ORIGIN. 73 

caves of the Belgian province of Namur, which were examined by 
a special scientific commission by the orders and at the expense of 
the Belgian government. The report of this commission, dated 
March 26, 1865, states that besides great quantities of partially 
worked Reindeer horns and bones, flint instruments, black 
pottery, shell ornaments, etc., etc., there were found a great 
number of human bones, all of which must have belonged to 
men of small stature, in this respect most closely agreeing with 
the existing Laplanders. The remains of fourteen individuals 
found in the Trou de Frontal, as already mentioned, like the 
human bones in the cave of Aurignac, indicate a smaller race 
than that now in existence. The report prepared by M. E. 
Dupont describes the Belgian cave-man as "petit, bien muscle, 
vif et maladif. ' ' 

That a similar small race must have continued to exist even 
during the Bronze-period, which followed the Stone-age, and in 
which man had already learnt the arts of alloying and working 
in metals, is proved by the well-known small size of the handles 
of the bronze weapons. This fact had struck archaeologists 
generally, long before anything was known of Diluvial man. 

If the primitive man was thus so inferior even in corporeal 
attributes to the men of the present day,* this was still more 
strikingly the case with regard to his intellectual capacities. 
Although his mental powers enabled the primitive man, not- 
withstanding his comparative bodily weakness, to come off 
victorious in his contests with animals which exceeded him 
greatly in size and strength, these faculties can nevertheless 
only have been of the most imperfect and undeveloped kind 
when compared with the general intellectual culture of the 
existing generation. This indeed is demonstrated by numer- 
ous discoveries of ancient and primeval human skulls in the 
most various parts of the world, as these, almost without excep- 
tion, when they belong to a tolerably high antiquity, show a 

*See Appendix No. 10. 



74 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

rude or undeveloped form, and, in accordance therewith, a 
comparatively small development of the brain. In some respects 
they remarkably approach the type of the lowest of existing 
races of men, that of the barbarous aborigines of Africa or 
Australia. Among such the following may be cited : 

The numerous negro-like skulls from the Belgian caves found 
by Spring and Schmerling;* the so-called Borreby skull from 
Denmark ;f the skull which was discovered by Link among 
those collected by Schlotheim from the gypsum-caves near 
Kostritz and which was remarkable for the singular flattening 
of its forehead ; the skulls of similar form discovered by Lund 
in a Brazilian bone cave mixed with the remains of extinct 
animals; that found by Castelnau under the same conditions in 
the rocky caverns of the Peruvian Andes, which had a similar 
form and was much elongated behind ; X the skull, already men- 
tioned, resembling that of a Caffre in form and having a low, 
narrow, receding forehead and very prominent superciliary 
ridges, which was found in company with Mammoth bones 
near Canstatt in the year 1700, and is now preserved in the 
Museum of Stuttgart. The very ancient skull found in the Isle 
of Portland and presented a few years ago by J. W. Smart to 
the Anthropological Society of London, also belongs to this 
category ; it had its bones very thick, exhibited very prominent 
orbits and was altogether of so low a type that it resembled the 

* See Appendix No. 11. 

t These skulls, found in the tumuli of Borreby and belonging to the stone age 
of Denmark, are small, round, and brachycephalic ; they have a retreating fore- 
head, a declivous occiput, a depressed vertex and projecting supraorbital arches. 
They resemble no other European race, except perhaps the Lapps or Finns. 

{ A strongly receding forehead always indicates a small or low development of 
the brain, as is shown by the configuration of the skull among the lowest races of 
mankind. Frere, whose rich collection of skulls of all centuries of our era has 
been incorporated with the new Anthropological Museum at Paris, cites as the 
principal result of the comparison of such skulls, that the more ancient, the type 
the more developed is the skull in the occipital region and the flatter is the fore- 
head, so that the transition of barbarous peoples towards civilization is revealed 
by the increasing elevation of the frontal region. 




Outlines of three Pre-historic European Skulls compared with one 
from hochelaga. 

Outer outline, Cro-magnon skull ; second outline, Engis skull ; third outline 
(dotted), Neanderthal skull ; inner figure, Hochelagan skull on a smaller scale. 



OUR ORIGIN. 75 

very lowest of Negro skulls (see Anthrop. Review for October, 
1865.) We may also mention the human skulls of very low 
type found in an old grave in Caithness, among which there 
was one which was declared by several scientific authorities to 
be the very worst-formed European skull that they had seen, 
with the sole exception of that from Neanderthal,* — the skulls 
found on the Cotteswold hills and reported on by Dr. Birdf in 
the periodical above quoted, (February, 1865); the skull with a 
depressed forehead, a greatly developed occiput and Negro-like 

* In an ancient grave near Caithness in the north of Scotland, a number of 
human skeletons and skulls of very low formation were recently found. The 
worst-formed of the skulls is very prognathous, (oblique-toothed, snoutlike); its 
forehead is very narrow and low, the skull itself depressed and rooflike in the 
middle; the brain very scanty. With it there were six other skulls more or less 
approaching the type just described, and all showing in the middle the rooflike 
projection. Probably these primitive men were cannibals, as would appear from 
the judgment of Professor Owen upon one of the human bones found, which was 
split up. The skulls themselves, according to Laing, approach most nearly to the 
African type. 

Similar low-formed skulls were also found on the Shetland islands. (See the 
details in the Anthropological Review, February, 1865, page xxxiv). 

Professor Wilson, who, as already stated, has made a thorough study of the 
prehistoric times of Scotland, and has proved that before the immigration of the 
Celts, two or three generations of aborigines must have preceded them there, de- 
scribes the Scotch primeval man from his investigations as follows : ■ ' Intellectua'ly, 
he seems to have occupied the lowest grade to which an intelligent being can 
possibly sink ; morally, he was the slave of superstitious ideas ; and lastly, cor- 
poreally, he did not differ much from the present inhabitants of the same country, 
with the exception of the miserable development of his brain.'' Nevertheless the 
stone weapons found in the Scotch graves of this period, rough as they may be, 
are still far beyond those of the Diluvium, which are larger and ruder and indicate 
a race of men which may indeed have been stronger, but which occupied a lower 
position. 

t One of the graves on the Cotteswold Hills near Cheltenham contained, ac- 
cording to Bird's report, the bones of several individuals with long oval heads and 
narrow foreheads. These skulls were strongly developed behind, but narrow and 
low in front, and contracted in the forehead. The frontal sinuses and eyebrows 
project and present above a wide and deep depression of the forehead. The jaws 
are strongly developed and the teeth very much worn away. The frontal suture 
did not occur in many skulls of children ! 

Another grave contained the bones of eight human beings, (adults and children), 
with well-developed heads. With them were found implements of stone and bone 
and old pottery. 



76 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

type, described by Professor Cocchi, from the Valley of the Arno 
near Florence, (see note, page 46,) etc., etc. 

All these discoveries, together with a great many others 
which could not be particularized here, are, however, surpassed 
in interest and importance by the celebrated Neanderthal skull 
which has already been referred to. This was found in 1856, 
associated with an undoubtedly fossil skeleton in a limestone 
cavern of the Neanderthal near Hochdal, (between Diisseldorf 
and Elberfeld), and has been carefully examined and described 
by Drs. Fuhlrott and Schaaffhausen. 

It has a very narrow, flat and surprisingly depressed iore- 
head, whilst the orbits and surpraciliary ridges are developed 
and prominent to a degree such as has never been observed in 
any other human skull. This particular conformation must 
have given the face of the Neanderthal man a frightfully bestial 
and savage, or ape-like expression. The rest of the skeleton 
to which the skull belonged also presented many resemblances 
in its structure to the osseous framework of the lower races of 
men. The ridges and crests especially, which served as points 
of insertion for the muscles, are very strongly developed, so 
that we may conclude that their possessor was a very strong 
and muscular, if a very savage man. This remarkable discovery 
naturally created much sensation in the learned world beyond 
Germany, especially in England and France, where many 
plaster casts of the skull were distributed. In England the dis- 
tinguished Professor Huxley, after careful examination, declared 
the Neanderthal skull to be the most bestial and ape-like in 
existence, corresponding most nearly with the skulls of the 
Australians. Professor Schaaffhausen expresses himself in the 
same fashion. In 1864, at the Congress of Naturalists at Giessen 
he declared, in opposition to other interpretations, that the 
Neanderthal skull represented a race-type, and that the entire 
and undoubtedly fossil skeleton, which precluded the supposition 
of idiocy, exhibited a number of characteristics such as have 



OUR ORIGIN. 77 

been of late years observed in the skeletons of very low races 
of men. He maintained finally, that the skull and skeleton 
must undoubtedly have belonged to one of the Autochthones, 
or primitive inhabitants of Europe, living before the Indo- 
Germanic immigration.* As a matter of course many objections 
were raised to this interpretation of the remains, on the part of 
those who had an interest in invalidating this important piece 
of evidence, but these produced no result. The chief objection 
raised by those who were not accurately informed upon the 
subject, was founded on the supposition that the discovery in 
the Neanderthal was an isolated one, and that the peculiar and 
unexampled form of the skull was to be explained away as ab- 
normal or exceptional. But in reality this is so far from being 
the case that Professor Huxley was quite justified in declaring 
that the Neanderthal skull is by no means so isolated as it 

* The first account of the Neanderthal skull was given by Dr. Schaaffhausen at 
the Meeting of the Natural History Society of the Lower Rhine on February 4, 
1857, from a plaster cast prepared in Elberfeld. He even then stated that it bore 
no traces of artificial deformation, but was to be regarded as a natural formation, 
which in the strong prominence of the upper supraciliary region, caused by the 
extension of the frontal sinuses, showed the human type in such a low stage of 
development as could hardly be found among the rudest of living races of men. 

Dr. Fuhlrott of Elberfeld, to whom we are indebted for the preservation of these 
bones, (which were at first regarded as those of some animal), afterwards brought 
them to Bonn for the purpose of being accurately examined anatomically, and on 
June 2, 1857, he gave a detailed description of the place where they were found 
and of the discovery itself before the general meeting of the Natural History Society 
of Rhenish Prussia and Westphalia. The details, together with a comparative 
summary of all that had been previously published in books and journals upon 
the Neanderthal Skull, will be found in Dr. Fuhlrott's Memoir already cited : 
Derfossile Mensch aus dem Neanderthal, &>c, (Duisburg, 1865). All the attempts 
that have been made, (by Meyer, Wagner, Blake, Pruner-Bey, Davis and others,) 
to diminish or bring in question the value of this discovery with respect to the 
primeval history of man, by giving it a different interpretation, must from this 
and from the explanations given by Prof. Schaaffhausen in his memoir, Zur 
Kenntniss der altesten Rassenschadel, be regarded as completely unsuccessful. 
Schaaffhausen says : " To regard the unusual development of the frontal sinuses 
in the remarkable skull from the Neanderthal as only an individual or patho- 
logical (morbid) deviation, there is not the slightest reason ; it is unmistakably a 
race-type, and stands in physiological agreement with the remarkable strength of 
the bones of the rest of the skeleton." 



78 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

might appear to be. at the first glance, but that it truly forms 
only the extreme member of a series leading by slow degrees to 
the highest and best developed forms of hitman skulls. 

The Borreby skulls belonging to the stone-age of Denmark 
are especially considered by Huxley to show a great resem- 
blance to the Neanderthal skull, a resemblance which is mani- 
fested in the depression of the cranium, the receding forehead, 
the contracted occiput and the prominent supraciliary ridges. 
The same may be said, more or less, of the other remains of 
skulls mentioned in our preceding enumeration, as well as of a 
great number of skulls and fragments of skulls found, (with 
bones), chiefly in the north of Europe, which are cited in detail 
by Professor Schaaffhausen in his important memoir, Towards 
the knowledge of the skulls of the most ancient races. In all 
these, similar characters were observable, although in a less 
•degree. In nearly all these crania the strong projection of the 
supraciliary ridges and the low, flat, receding forehead are 
expressly noticed as characteristic peculiarities.* But if we 

* " It is worthy of notice," says Prof. Schaaffhausen in the memoir eked in the 
text, " that a similar, although smaller projection of the supraciliary arches has 
generally been found in the skulls of savage races, as well as in very ancient 
skulls.'' Then follows a long enumeration of such cases from which we select the 
following as the most noteworthy : " The remarkably small skull from the graves 
on the island of Moen, examined by Prof. Eschricht ; the two human skulls, 
described by Dr. Kutorga, from the government of Minsk, (Russia), one of which, 
especially, shows a great resemblance to the Neanderthal skull ; the human 
skeleton found near Plau in Mecklenburg in a very ancient grave in a squatting 
position, and associated with implements manufactured of bone, with regard to 
which Dr. Lisch remarks, that " the formation of the skull indicates a very distant 
period, when man stood on a very low grade of development ;" and a similar 
discovery in another ancient grave in Mecklenburg (the Kegelgrab of Schwaan), 
in which the remains of no fewer than eight bodies were found together in a 
squatting position in the original soil, and their skulls likewise presented short, 
retreating foreheads and projecting eyebrows." 

A number of further proofs of the low development of the skull and brain in the 
primeval man are cited by the same author in a quite recent memoir : On the primi- 
tive for7n of the human skull, (1868), which he concludes with the following words : 

" From what has just been under consideration we may regard it as beyond doubt 
that a skull, which does not bear the signs of a low organization, cannot be regarded 
as derived from primeval man, even though it may have been found among the bones 
of extinct animals. But it is further clear that we must now place the man of the 
primeval time a step lower than the rudest savages of the actual world." 



OUR ORIGIN. 79 

leave out of the account the last mentioned character of the 
prominent supraciliary ridges, «we have in the Peruvian skull of 
one of the Titicaca race obtained by Baron von Bibra from an 
ancient tomb at Algodon Bay in Bolivia, and brought by him to 
Europe, a form which, in its excessively small size, the narrow- 
ness and lowness of its forehead, which indeed is almost entirely 
deficient, and its elongated occipital region, exceeds even the 
Neanderthal skull in animality and inferiority of conformation. 
Bibra says that it has more analogy with the skull of a monkey 
than with that of a man, and the chemical examination that he 
made of its bones indicates that it is of a very high antiquity.* 

From all these facts, and from many other discoveries of 
human bones, including a great number of lower jaws of very 
bestial form, which will be more particularly referred to here- 
after, we may conclude with certainty, that our most ancient 
European ancestor, or the primitive man in all countries, must 
have been almost infinitely inferior to our existing race of men 
both corporeally and intellectually, — in other words, he must 
have been an extremely barbarous and perhaps almost dumb 
savage, who worked his way up to a certain degree of civiliza- 
tion and made actual intellectual progress by extremely slow 
degrees and by means of almost inconceivable efforts, impelled 
thereto either by his own faculties or by influences from with- 
out. Nay, from the observations now before us, it would almost 
seem, that for thousands of years scarcely any progress of this 
kind was made. At least according to the calculations of Lyell 

* Even this skull is not isolated, but it resembles many skulls from the neigh- 
borhood of the Titicaca lake in Peru, which all, according to Bibra, have a greater 
resemblance to the skull of an ape than to other human skulls. They usually 
have in the middle a blunt, comb-like elevation along the whole length of the 
skull, and are so badly formed that they were long regarded as artificially de- 
formed, which, however, is certainly not the case with the skull brought home by 
Bibra. In Algodon Bay, Bibra found thirty to forty tumuli in which human 
bodies of a small race were put together in a squatting posture. They belonged 
to an old Peruvian race, or to a people who chi fly inhabited the region of the 
lake of Titicaca. Most of the mummies found in Peru and Bolivia resemble this 
race (See von Bibra, Die Algodon-Bay in Bolivia, Vienna, 1852). 



80 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

and others, (see Appendix No. 8,) a very long period must 
have elapsed between the deposition of the upper and lower 
gravel beds containing flint axes in the Valley of the Somme 
which are of considerable thickness. And yet no considerable, 
readily perceptible difference can be pointed out between the 
axes from the upper and lower beds, so that the industrial con- 
dition of primitive man must have remained nearly unchanged 
during a very long period of time. There is indeed some 
difference between the axes, but it is so slight as to be recog- 
nizable, according to Lyell, only by the eye of the practised 
observer, whilst the uninitiated can see nothing of it. It has, 
however, been observed that the so-called oval forms predomin- 
ate over the elongated ones in the deeper beds.* With more 
accurate knowledge and more abundant material we shall no 

* At the anthropological congress in Paris in 1867, M. Reboux stated that he had 
examined more than a thousand flint axes collected in the evirons of Paris near the 
Seine (at Perret, Clichy, Batignolles and Neuilly), and distinguished among them 
three kinds, namely, split off, chipped and polished. According to him the split- 
off axes or chips lay lowest down and the polished ones uppermost, and they were 
never mixed together. All this, however, was received with doubt by the Con- 
gress. On the other hand, Professor Broca in his Report of 1867, which has been 
so often mentioned, stated that the gradual improvement of the flint axes of 
Abbeville, (in the Valley of the Somme,) had been clearly shown by Gabriel de 
Mortillet. In the lowest beds they are lance-shaped and of large size. In the 
gravelly sand which covers the Diluvium and in which no Mammoth bones are to 
be found, they are elliptical, elongated and of smaller size. Finally, in the light, 
superficial soil of the declivities, they are polished and sharpened, like those which 
have been found in the dolmens. The question whether this improvement was 
effected by internal progress or by the arrival of new peoples, is left in doubt by 
Broca; but according to him, the latter is rendered probable by the observations 
of Lartet and Christy. The inhabitants of the caverns of Perigord in the south 
of France had already, according to Broca, attained a high degree of dexterity 
and made a great number of instruments of bone, ivory and Reindeer horn. 
Their drawings even indicate an artistic feeling which leaves far behind the rude 
sketches on many Celtic monuments, (and consequently of much later date ) 
They must have led a quiet, contemplative life, and were probably destroyed by 
a stronger, but ruder people. 

Broca regards these advanced men of the so-called Reindeer period as probably 
the more cultivated descendants of the rude savages of the diluvial time. But 
notwithstanding the progress they had made they still fabricated their stone 
implements merely by the process of striking and without grinding them, as was 
subsequently done with the smoothed or polished stones. 



OUR ORIGIN. 8l 

doubt eventually succeed in obtaining more delicate distinctions, 
and may thus arrive at a better notion of the gradual course of 
the development of civilization. 

At a somewhat latter period the differences in the stone 
weapons become so considerable, and the gradual progress in 
industrial skill of the primitive peoples shows itself so distinctly, 
that in accordance therewith the so-called stone-age has been 
divided into, three distinct, consecutive periods or sections, 
characterized chiefly by the form and the greater or less perfec- 
tion of the stone weapons and other instruments. These are 
the ancient, middle and recent stone-ages, and they certainly 
embrace an enormous lapse of time, as the ancient stone-age is 
undoubtedly intimately connected with the first appearance of 
man upon the earth, and the most recent age of stone was pro- 
longed far into the historical period, and even continues to the 
present day among many savage tribes. 

But in order that this expression, "the stone-age," may be 
rightly understood, it must be borne in mind that of late the 
prehistoric periods of the human race and its development in 
civilization have been generally divided, after the example of 
Northern savants, into the ages of stone, bronze and iron, and 
that this division although often attacked and doubted, has by 
degrees been fully established in archaeological science. It is 
true that the periods are united by the most gradual transitions 
from one to the other, and that they frequently seem to invade 
one another's territories, but on the whole they indicate quite 
correctly the gradual progress of civilization, the true civil- 
ized periods commencing only with the introduction of iron.* 
Bronze, an alloy or mixture of copper and tin, was evidently a 
much less perfect material than iron, the use of which alone 

* According to M. Gabriel de Mortillet, a recognized authority, the first appear- 
ance of iron is completely prehistoric, and the three periods of Stone, Bronze 
and Iron have very gradually followed one another, a all events in Switzerland 
and Italy. 



82 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

could have rendered possible that advance in civilization which 
has landed us at our present stage of development. 

Of course stone was the most imperfect material, and its dis- 
placement by bronze or brass was a greater step in advance at 
the time it occurred, than that subsequently caused by the in- 
troduction of iron. 

From this mode of division, which now serves us as a measure 
for determining the most ancient periods of the human race, we 
see at once that in reality the course of development of human 
society has been the very opposite of that imagined by the poets 
of classical antiquity, and pictured by them in their writings. 
For while they represent a golden, a silver and an iron age 
following one another, and accompanied by a constantly increas- 
ing deterioration in the condition of human society, in reality 
the very reverse has taken place. ' ' A life of perfect indolence 
and perpetual serenity was not the lot of the oldest human 
inhabitants of our country, but a life full of severe and heavy 
labor, of great and ceaseless cares. And when at last the 
bronze, and after it the iron age came in, this last did not in- 
dicate a growing deterioration in the conditions of human 
existence, but the greatest improvement, and the most rapid 
progress that has been or could have been made towards the 
freedom of man. ' ' — Virchow. 

However, as we . have already said, it must not be supposed 
that well-marked boundaries exist beween these three periods; 
on the contrary, gradual transitions are everywhere perceptible. 
A transitional period of this kind must have occurred especially 
between the ages of Stone and Bronze. It is indicated by 
numerous tombs and other places in which implements made 
of stone and bronze are found together. Implements of pure 
copper are also found in this transition period, so that many 
people have been inclined to intercalate here a special copper- 
age. Objects of bronze and iron are also found together in 
many places ; but whilst the bronze was speedily and completely 



OUR ORIGIN. 83 

superseded by iron, the stone-weapons held their ground much 
longer, and their use extends, as has already been stated, far 
down into historic times.* Perhaps the last stone weapons may 
have been manufactured with iron instruments, and it is said 
that the English actually fought with stone implements against 
William the Conqueror, f A circumstance of great significance 
in the history of human development, observed in this transition 
from stone to bronze and from bronze to iron, is that the first 
bronze weapons were made exactly after the pattern of the old 
stone implements, and in the same way also the earliest imple- 
ments of iron after the pattern of the bronze implements which 
preceded them, although without such models before them no 
one would have thought of bringing the malleable and ductile 
metal into the rough and inconvenient forms of the produc- 
tions of the stone age. From this instance we see most distinctly 

* In countries out of Europe, according to the researches of Rougemont, (L'dge 
du Bronze, &*c), copper seems often to have preceded iron. The art of smelting 
iron appears to be of very ancient date in Africa. In America, (Mexico, Peru, 
&c), scarcely anything but copper or bronze was worked ; iron was very rarely or 
not at all employed. In China and Japan, however, as in Europe, we can dis- 
tinguish the ages of stone, bronze and iron. On the other hand, in the north of 
Tartary and in Finland we may almost say that there was an iron age- without 
any copper or bronze. 

t ' ' The use of stone weapons, leaving out of consideration certain savage tribes 
of recent times, was much in vogue during historical antiquity. According to 
Herodotus, the Ethiopian archers whom Xerxes brought with him in his army 
against Greece, made use of short reed arrows which had stone tips. During the 
researches made not long since by Francois Lenormant in ancient Attica, an 
enormous quantity of lance-heads, made of flint and of very rude manufacture, 
was found in a small mound. On the battle-field of Marathon, in the mound 
which the Athenians raised over the bodies of those who had fallen for their 
fatherland, a number of stone (and bronze) arrow-heads were discovered." 
(Thomassen, Enthiillungen aus der Urgeschichte, page 36 Neuwied, 1869). 

Tacitus also, (Germania, Cap. 47), relates of a people inhabiting the northwest 
of ancient Germany, whom he denominates the Fenni, that in war they made use 
of arrows which were furnished with bone tips. It is extremely probable therefore 
that this people also possessed stone weapons. Indeed the difficulty of obtain- 
ing iron in sufficient quantities even after it was known, and the want of knowl- 
edge of the mode of working it, may have induced or compelled many of the 
peoples of later periods still to continue the employment of stone weapons and 
implements. 



84 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

that the human mind cannot produce anything at once and 
directly from itself, but that it is everywhere confined strictly 
to the laws of its . gradual, sensualistic development, and to the 
nourishment furnished to it by impressions from without. 
Most certainly we have no right to compassionate the limited 
capacity of- our oldest ancestor, who was incapable of his own 
powers to rise to the idea of a true metallic implement, and 
could only by degrees observe how the new material was capable 
of taking improved forms, as we ourselves are every moment 
guilty of the same fault, but on a larger scale, and both in 
material and intellectual matters can break loose from the old 
and antiquated only with the greatest trouble. Take as an 
instance the defective construction of our railways and railway 
carriages, which are still made on the pattern of the old and 
inconvenient post-roads and stage-coaches, although, with the 
materials now at our command, if only these models were 
thrown aside, the whole arrangement might be infinitely better 
adapted to its purposes and rendered less dangerous, more 
convenient, and cheaper.* 

After all these digressions we must return to our main subject, 
the stone-age, which in its three consecutive phases or divisions 
of the ancient, middle and recent period, is best of all fitted to 
furnish us with a picture of the gradually ascending course of 

* For this purpose the breadth (Spurbreite) , of the iron rails and the width of the 
railroad in general must above all be made much greater; the carriages, con- 
structed in two stories, must run not over, but between the wheels, with the lower 
story reaching nearly to the ground ; at the same time their interior must not be 
divided into little cells for the imprisonment of martyrs, but arranged in the form 
of large and small saloons fitted up with all conveniences, and so as to facilitate 
communication throughout the whole train. The ingress and egress of passen • 
gers to and from the train must be facilitated and hastened by means of movable 
platforms standing at the same height as the person; the ticket offices and any 
others that may be necessary must be placed in the train itself, &c. With such an 
arrangement, running off the line would become an impossibility, the detestable 
rocking of the carriages would cease and their motion become scarcely perceptible, 
a far greater number of passengers might be conveyed, (notwithstanding the 
greatly increased convenience,) more rapidly, more safely, and cheaper, without 
any injury to health or personal comfort, even on the longest journeys, &c. 



OUR ORIGIN. 85 

civilization."" The ancient stone-period is characterized by those 
stone axes oiPrude form on the pattern of those of Amiens, 
Abbeville, Hoxne, etc. , which are found chiefly in the gravelly 
or sandy deposits of former river beds, but sometimes also in 
caves of the most ancient kind. They show no traces of fine 
work, and were produced merely by blows or taps ; they are 
not smoothed or polished and have no holes for the handle, no 
ornamentation, or anything of the kind. Associated with them 
we find no traces of metal, no pottery and no remains of domes- 
tic animals; on the other hand, they are accompanied by numer- 
ous bones of extinct animals of the Diluvial period, such as the 
Cave Bear, the Mammoth, the Woolly Rhinoceros, etc. Sir 
John Lubbock, {Prehistoric Times, London, 1865,) calls this 
the Paleolithic period, to distinguish it from the second or 
Neolithic period, and according to him, as already mentioned, 
about three thousand flint implements of this age have probably 
been found in the North of France and South of England. M. 
E. Lartet thinks that we should distinguish in the Palaeolithic 
age an ancient period of the Cave Bear, and a more modern one 
of the Elephant and Rhinoceros, but this distinction has been 
regarded as superfluous by other writers, especially by Carl 
Vogt.* 

According to Carl Vogt, (Archiv fur Anthropologic, 1866, 
Part I,) the man of the oldest stone age, who must be regarded, 

* Lartet's four epochs of the Stone-age are therefore the period of the Cave- 
Bear, that of the Elephant and Rhinoceros, that of the Reindeer and that of the 
Aurochs, a mode of division to which MM. Troyon and d'Archiac adhere in 
essential points. A somewhat different scheme, founded upon the epochs of 
Swiss Glaciation, has been proposed by Professor Renevier of Lousanne ; it is as 
follows : 

1. Preglacial epoch, in which man lived contemporaneously with Elephas 
antiquus, Rhinoceros homitcechus and the Cave-Bear. 

2. Glacial epoch, in which man lived contemporaneously with the Mammoth, 
Tichorhine Rhinoceros, Cave-Bear, &c. 

3. Postglacial epoch, in which man lived contemporaneously with the Mammoth 
and Reindeer. 

4. Last epoch, or epoch of the Pile-buildings, in which man lived contempo- 
raneously with the Gigantic Deer, the Aurochs, &c. 



86 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

however, only as the descendant or successor of a still older and 
more barbarous race belonging to the Tertiary period, was of 
large stature, powerful and longheaded, (dolichocephalic,) judg- 
ing from the skulls of Engis and the Neanderthal. He paid 
honor to the dead, was acquainted with the use of fire, made 
hearths, split the hollow bones and skulls of animals in order to 
extracl: the marrow and brains from them, adorned himself with 
corals and the teeth of wild animals, and clothed himself in skins 
or in the bark of trees softened by beating. He possessed rude 
axes and knives split off from blocks of stone, and implements 
of bone adapted for various purposes. And judging from the 
great abundance of flint instruments found in the European 
caves, he was spread over the whole of central Europe north 
of the Alps. 

This description does not exactly apply to the barbarous 
primeval man of the earliest diluvial times, and it would appear 
that the describer must have had in his mind at the same time a 
series of cave-discoveries belonging to a somewhat later date. 
Westropp who distinguishes four stages of civilization, names 
this earliest stage of humanity that of savagery, and supposes it 
to be followed by the stages of hunters, herdsmen, and agri- 
culturists. 

The ancient stone age is immediately followed by the middle 
stone age, characterized by stone weapons and flint implements 
of finer workmanship and greater finish. 

We might also call it the period of flint knives, as these are 
found in enormous quantities, whilst the axes are far less numer- 
ous in proportion. But it is generally indicated as the Reindeer 
period, and the man then living as the Reindeer-man, on account 
of the immense quantity of worked and chiselled bones and 
antlers of the Reindeer, (or Stag,) which we find in localities 
belonging to this time. This manufacture of the bones of 
Mammals and fishes, shells, etc., was carried on partly for 
purposes of domestic utility and partly for the production of 



OUR ORIGIN. 87 

ornamental objects. But the extremely imperfect civilization 
of the man of this period is shown by the circumstance that he 
still possessed no domestic animals, with the exception, perhaps 
of the dog, and that the remains of a very rude, blackish 
pottery are only found here and there. The bones of animals 
found belong partly to extincl: forms and partly to species which 
are still in existence, but which, like the Reindeer, retreated to 
high northern latitudes before the period of history or tradi- 
tion. The whole period of the Reindeer-man is completely 
pre-historic, as according to the unanimous opinion of natural- 
ists the Reindeer emigrated from our regions in pre-historic 
times. 

To this period belong the greater part of the objects dis- 
covered in caves, especially in the numerous caves of the South 
of France and Belgium, which have furnished such abundant 
materials for the primeval history of man. It would appear 
from this, that the Reindeer-man lived chiefly or almost ex- 
clusively in caverns, which, indeed, not only at that period, 
but long before and long after it, served mankind as places of 
residence or of refuge.* The cave of Aurignac described at 
the beginning of this section, in which flint knives, ornaments, 
instruments of bone, etc., were found, must be placed in this 
series. It is also characteristic of this period that in the locali- 
ties belonging to it numerous remains of man himself have been 
found, whilst this has hitherto been the case to a very limited 
extent in localities of the earliest stone age. According to Carl 
Vogt the skulls of this, (second,) period exhibit a flatness of 
the frontal region, with a considerable development of the 
occipital part and a rooflike form of the cranial arch (as in 
Australian skulls.) With this structure is usually combined 
strong prognathism or obliquity of the teeth, a short form of 
the head, (brachycephalism,) and a feeble structure of the body, 
so that the general picture of the man of the Reindeer time 

* See Appendix No. 12. 



88 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

corresponds most closely with that of the existing Laplanders. 
The great artistic sense which is displayed in the drawings and 
carvings of the Reindeer-man, as previously described, is very 
remarkable, and the progress towards civilization which was 
made by him in the finer finishing of his weapons and imple- 
ments and by the invention of pottery was very considerable. 
As Vogt says, the Reindeer-man excelled particularly in the art 
of working in bone. He evidently lived only by the chase and 
by fishing, and thus represented the second or hunter-stage of 
the four degrees of civilization established by Westropp. To 
the same stage this author also refers the kitchen-middens or 
heaps of culinary refuse, as we find in them only chipped stone 
implements, but none polished or smoothed by grinding. 

An exceedingly brilliant light has been thrown upon the 
Reindeer period and the Reindeer-man by the very careful 
investigation of the Belgian caves which has been made during 
the last few years, as also by the celebrated discovery at the 
source of the Schussen near Schussenried in Swabia.* 

The middle stone-age is followed by the recent stone-age, or 
Lubbock's Neolithic period. It is characterized by the profuse 
occurrence of stone weapons and implements of fine workman- 
ship, f and especially by the circumstance that these implements 
are not, as previously, prepared by chipping or tapping, but 

* See Appendix No. 13. 

+ According to an admirable article by Sir John Lubbock on the use of stone in 
ancient times {Revue Litter aire , 1865-66, No. 1), there are in the great Museum 
of Antiquities in Copenhagen alone about eleven to twelve thousand articles in 
stone, and the number of all the specimens contained in private and publx collec- 
tions in Denmark is estimated by Mr. Herbst at 30000 ! The Museum of the 
Royal Irish Academy contains nearly 700 flint flakes, 512 celts, more than 400 
arrow heads and 50 lance heads, besides 75 of the so-called scrapers, and many 
other articles made of stone, such as sling-stones, hammers, whetstones, millstones, 
&c. In the same way the number of specimens in the Museum at Stockholm is 
estimated at between fifteen and sixteen thousand. " From this," says Lubbock, 
" we may conclude that there was a time during which human society was in so 
rude a state, that stocks and stones, horns and bones were the only instruments 
that man was able to procure." 



OUR ORIGIN. 89 

polished or smoothed by a process of grinding and cutting ; 
they are also engraved or furnished with scratched ornaments 
and provided with holes for the reception of the handle. These 
cut or polished stone implements have long been known, and 
all Museums swarm with them. On account of their generally 
chisel-like form they are commonly known as Celts, (from the 
Latin celtis, a chisel.) The celts are found most abundantly in 
the North, especially in Denmark. 

What especially distinguishes this third and most recent 
stone-age from its two predecessors, is the greater development 
attained in it by the art of pottery, which is of such great im- 
portance in the progress of civilization. Numerous remains of 
earthenware made by hand occur in the localities of this period.* 

A no less important advance in civilization is indicated by 
the presence of the bones of tamed or domesticated animals, and 
by the signs of the commencement of agricultural pursuits, in- 
cluding the keeping of cattle. The man of that time, whose 
intellectual and bodily nature was more and more approaching 
to the present condition, may therefore have been not merely a 
hunter, but also partly a herdsman and agriculturist. Subse- 
quently also he understood the arts of spinning, of weaving 
coarse stuffs, and of building permanent huts and dwelling 
places. The traces of this age are spread over nearly the whole 
earth. In general all discoveries made in the so-called alluvial 
soil are referred to it, as also the turbaries and shell-heaps 

*The first appearance and gradual progress of the art of pottery is very charac- 
teristic in the primeval periods of the human race. During the most ancient cave 
period it is probable that nothing of the kind was used except rude lumps of clay 
with a hollow in the middle for keeping water to drink in the interior of the caves. 
Subsequently the vessel was dried in the sun to make it harder. But it was only 
in the Reindeer period that man seems first to have employed fire for hardening 
vessels. In order to make the clay resist the fire better, it was probably mixed 
with quartz-sand. These most ancient vessels are, however, very rude, and were 
manufactured solely by hand, as may still be seen distinctly by the impressions of 
fingers upon them. They are usually of a blackish color. The use of the potter's 
wheel was introduced much later. 



90 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

already described, the Swiss pile-buildings, and the Irish lake- 
dwellings, the tumuli or grave mounds, the Dolmens, &c. 
The most ancient remains of the so-called Celtic age must also 
be referred to this period, which indeed, as already stated, 
sends its last offshoots far into the historical period. Scattered 
through the whole of Europe there is a great number of graves, 
the contents of which show them to belong to one of the two 
last mentioned periods of the stone-age. By the increasing 
delicacy and perfection of the weapons and implements, as well 
as by their greater adaptation for the most varied purposes both 
of peace and war, these graves display in a remarkable manner 
the gradual progress of the people of the stone age. But this 
progress must have required an enormous lapse of time, and 
the advance itself must have taken place slowly in proportion 
to the antiquity of the men and their poverty in the means of 
progress. How many thousands of years may have elapsed 
before the transition from the oldest to the middle stone-age 
could have taken place? before man succeeded in giving a 
rather more delicate or improved form to the rough flint 
hammers of the oldest period, or in adapting the material at 
his command to more multifarious purposes? This remarkably 
slow progress cannot astonish us if we only bear in mind the 
picture of the condition of this period which has already been 
sketched, and consider on the one hand the enormous difficul- 
ties with which the primitive man had to contend, and on the 
other the absence of all impulse, whether from within or from 
without, to any such progress. For stability or tendency to 
invariability or immobility may be regarded as the fundamental 
character of the savage and primitive state of man, a character 
which of itself and without the accession of external impulses 
possesses essentially a tendency to almost infinite duration. 
This indeed may be observed in the case of existing savages, 
who remain almost stationary for thousands of years without 
making any essential progress. With regard to this, Lyell 



OUR ORIGIN. 91 

says very appropriately : ' ' The extent to which even a con- 
siderably advanced state of civilization may become fixed. and 
stereotyped for ages, is the wonder of Europeans who travel in 
the East. One of my friends declared to me, that whenever 
the natives expressed to him a wish ' that he might live a thou- 
sand years, ' the idea struck him as by no means extravagant, 
seeing that, if he were doomed to sojourn forever among them, 
he could only hope to exchange in ten centuries as many ideas, 
and to witness as much progress, as he could do at home in 
half a century." 

As may easily be imagined it is precisely the first step in the 
path of civilization that must have been the most difficult and 
therefore the slowest. On the contrary, with every fresh 
advance, both the means and the desire to overcome the diffi- 
culties or obstacles in the way must have been increased. With 
regard to the external obstacles to progress no doubt the large 
and powerful animals of the Diluvial period must have dis- 
appeared and the mighty geological catastrophes of that age 
must have run their course, before man could obtain sufficient 
space and opportunity for the development of his powers and 
the wider diffusion of his race upon the earth. And even after all 
this had taken place, impulses of some particular kind would be 
required to rouse the primeval savage from that sluggish, in- 
active and unintellectual state in which one generation after 
another had sunk into the grave like the beasts surrounding 
them, and to force upon him, as it were, the necessity of ad- 
vancing in civilization. 

Among impulses of this kind I reckon prominent natural 
phenomena, geographical or climatic changes, the immigration 
of old or irruption of foreign races, wars, famines, expulsions from 
dwelling places, migrations, the commencement of relations of 
traffic and commerce, the gradual improvement of language, 'etc. , 
and especially the rise of certain highly endowed individuals who 
possessed themselves of a political or spiritual sovereignty. 



92 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

Without any such impulses it is possible that the savage 
state in which our oldest ancestor lived, might have persisted 
to the present day. It is true that many people talk about the 
existence of an innate and necessary instinct of progress in 
human nature, and believe that this instinct must always and 
necessarily produce its due effect. But in the presence of so 
many eloquent facts which testify to the contrary, it will be 
difficult for any one with an unprejudiced judgment to believe 
in such a necessity. Thus not only are there people who have 
remained stationary at the same degree of culture from the 
very dawn of history, but there are others, such as the Chinese, 
who have certainly attained a certain stage of progress, but 
have then remained without alteration, whilst we can only find 
one comparatively small group of nations which has hitherto 
been constantly engaged in a course of progress and improve- 
ment. But even this progress in them has not always pro- 
ceeded spontaneously from within, but the impulse towards it 
has come in historic times only from without. We also see 
those nations which were formerly the greatest and most power- 
ful and endowed with the most advanced' civilization, such as 
the Egyptians, Assyrians, Jews, Greeks, Romans, &c, now in a 
state of almost complete decay, whilst their place in the scale of 
progress has been taken by quite different peoples in other 
lands. Thus it is quite conceivable that the European primi- 
tive man would perhaps never have emancipated himself from 
his state of rude servitude to nature, if impulses from without, 
and especially the occasional immigration of foreign races of a 
higher degree of culture, had not been brought to bear upon 
him. Whether a complete displacement or destruction of the 
aborigines by the new-comers took place under these circum- 
stances, or only a mixture and consequent ennoblement of the 
native race, is a question which can hardly be answered directly, 
but the second case is certainly by far the most probable.* 

* See Appendix No. 14. 



OUR ORIGIN. 93 

With this we may consider that we have touched upon all 
the essential points in our knowledge of primeval man and his 
rude condition, scanty as this is at present. It is remarkable 
that a certain reminiscence of this early condition must have 
been preserved among the most ancient men and in the earliest 
recollections of peoples, for among very many of the latter, un- 
mistakable traditions of the first rude commencements of cul- 
ture and civilization are to be found. Thus, for example, the 
Chinese possess a complete picture of the progress of their 
civilization, which in its main features agrees perfectly with the 
results of our scientific investigation. This picture commences 
with the time when men lived naked upon the trees and were 
still unacquainted with the use of fire. Afterwards they clothed 
themselves with leaves and bark, later still with skins, &c, &c. 
In the same way, according to Prof. Spiegel, {Genesis und 
Aves£a,~) the most ancient traditions and legends of the Hebrews, 
Phoenicians, Hindoos, Babylonians, &c. , all point to a primitive 
savage state from which the human race rose to a higher con- 
dition only by the help of the Gods, or of specially endowed 
men, (the so-called patriarchs.) According to the legends of 
the Babylonians their ten most ancient patriarchs lived alto- 
gether 432,000 years! The Iranian heroic legend endeavors 
to show a gradual development of the human race from a state 
of complete savagery to a regular state of social life, and this it 
does by the same steps of development that are accepted in the 
Semitic legends. Its first king, Gaiumard, taught men to 
clothe themselves in the skins of animals and to eat the fruits 
of trees, whilst an accidentally ignited tree taught a subsequent 
king, (Huscheng,) the use of fire. In this a divine nature was 
immediately supposed to reside, and the worship of fire com- 
menced. 

By the Phoenicians also the first use of fire and the discovery 
of the art of producing it by friction, are placed in the second 
generation of the human race. According to the Bundehesch, 



94 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

a very ancient Iranian document, the first men lived only on 
fruits and water. It was only at a later period that they made 
use of milk and flesh, acquired the knowledge of fire, clad 
themselves in the skins of animals, built themselves huts, &c. 
If we leave out of consideration the merely poetical ideas of 
the gold and silver ages, throughout the whole period of classi- 
cal antiquity, no other notion than the above prevailed as to 
the primitive state of our race upon the earth and the slow and 
gradual course of its development. As a proof of this we may 
cite the celebrated passage in Horace, {Satires, Book I. 3,99,) 
which, moreover, seems to have been founded upon the well- 
known dissertation on the Epicurean philosophy of the history 
of Creation in the fifth book of the didactic poem of Lucretius 
Carus. "When animals," says Horace, "first crawled forth 
from the new formed earth, a stupid and filthy flock, they 
fought for acorns and places of refuge with their nails and fists, 
then with cudgels, and finally with weapons which, guided by 
experience, they had made for themselves. Then they invented 
names for things and words to express their thoughts, after 
which they began to abstain from war, to fortify their towns, to 
establish laws, &c. " 

After the period of classical antiquity had passed away, and 
by means of influences of an unscientific kind which I will not 
characterize more particularly, a conception quite opposite to 
that just described was brought forth, and gradually arrived at 
almost universal acceptance. This is the notion that the prim- 
itive man was not a barbarous savage, but on the contrary, a 
being as perfect as possible and endowed with the highest and 
best qualities, and that we ourselves are only the degenerate 
descendants of a better and more noble race, corrupted and 
ruined by sin and labor. A consequence of the adoption of 
this opinion is that even scientific men are fond of representing 
the existing savages as the degraded and degenerate posterity 



OUR ORIGIN. 95 

of more highly endowed forefathers. * In this sense the Count 
de Salles says : ' ' Man, created by God, passed from the hands 
of the Creator as a perfect work, complete in body and spirit. 
Whatever may be the actual degradation of many men, civiliza- 
tion is their final goal, as it was their original state. f 

" It is difficult to conceive," says Ouatrefages after citing this 
passage, "upon what facts this author relies." In point of 
fact, such an opinion as this having sprung solely from theo- 
retical considerations can only appeal to theoretical grounds, 
whilst it is in the plainest contradiction to every known fact. 
If the men now living were really only the degenerate and 
partially corrupted descendants of a former higher and better 
race, it would be difficult to understand how the human race 
could still exist, as it is a law generally recognized and proved 
by experience, that degenerate cr degraded tribes and indi- 
viduals are never of long duration, but that they gradually 
disappear. 

Lyell argues admirably against this view in the following 
words : ' ' But had the original stock of mankind been really en- 
dowed with such superior intellectual powers and with inspired 
knowledge, and had they possessed the same improvable nature 
as their posterity, the point of advancement to which they 
would have reached ere this would have been immeasurably 
higher. We cannot ascertain at present the limits, whether of 
the beginning or the end, of the first stone period, when Man 
co-existed with the extinct Mammalia, but that it was of great 
duration we cannot doubt. During those ages there would 
have been time for progress of which we can scarcely form a 
conception, and very different would have been the character 

* In the case of many, or at all events of some savage tribes, this view may un- 
doubtedly be to a certain extent correct, but as a general rule it is certainly quite 
false. 

tThe great poet Milton also was, as is well known, a supporter of this hypothe- 
sis of the perfection of the primitive man, and sings of Adam as the most perfect 
of men and of Eve as the loveliest of women. 



96 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

of the works of art which we should now be endeavoring to 
interpret, — those relics which we are now disinterring from the 
old gravel-pits of St. Acheul, or from the Liege caves. In 
them, or in the upraised bed of the Mediterranean, on the 
south coast of Sardinia, instead of the rudest pottery or flint 
tools so irregular in form as to cause the unpractised eye to 
doubt whether they afford unmistakable evidence of design, we 
should now be finding sculptured forms, surpassing in beauty 
the master-pieces of Phidias or Praxiteles; lines of buried rail- 
ways or electric telegraphs, from which the best engineers of 
our day might gain invaluable hints ; astronomical instruments 
and microscopes of more advanced construction than any 
known in Europe, and other indications of perfection in the 
arts and sciences, such as the nineteenth century has not yet 
witnessed. Still farther would the triumph of inventive genius 
be found to have been carried, when the later deposits, now 
assigned to the ages of bronze and iron were formed. Vainly 
should we be straining our imaginations to guess the possible 
uses and meaning of such relics — machines, perhaps, for navi- 
gating the air or exploring the depths of the ocean, or for cal- 
culating arithmetical problems, beyond the wants or even the 
conception of living mathematicians." 

Now we do not find in the depths of the earth such things as 
are here described by Lyell, but in all cases just the reverse, 
and we must therefore feel convinced that man did not, in 
accordance with this opinion which we find coming to the 
surface from time to time,* commence with great things to end 
with small, but that beginning with small things he has ended 
with great, as indeed is the rule in almost all human affairs ! 

Which of the opinions here described is not merely the most 
probable but the most encouraging and satisfactory, the author 
may confidently leave to the judgment of the reader. It is only 

See Appendix No. 15. 



OUR ORIGIN. 97 

by a complete misapprehension of the truth and of right senti- 
ments that so many men can have been induced to reject the view- 
here developed of the antiquity and origin of our race upon the 
earth as being repulsive and discouraging, and to imagine that 
if it be adopted the elevated sentiment of the dignity of human 
nature must be endangered. We do not know how to combat 
this false pride which regards a lowly origin as something con- 
temptible and degrading better than in the admirable words of 
Professor Huxley, who speaks as follows in his remarkable 
memoir on the Place of Man in Nature: ' ' Thoughtful men, 
once escaped from the blinding influence of traditional preju- 
dice, will find in the lowly stock whence man has sprung the 
best evidence of the splendor of his capacities ; and will discern 
in his long progress through the Past a reasonable ground of 
faith in his attainment of a nobler Future." 

In reality the humbler our origin, the more elevated is our 
present position in Nature ! the smaller the commencement, the 
greater is the termination! the harder the struggle, the more 
brilliant the victory! the more painful and tedious the course by 
which our civilization has been attained, the more valuable is 
this civilization itself, and the more powerful the endeavor not 
merely to retain it but to still further develop it! It is not hu- 
miliation and discouragement, but incitement to something still 
greater, that the thinking and right-feeling man must derive from 
the knowledge of the antiquity and primitive state of his race 
upon the earth! Probably everything that we possess in the 
way of culture, civilization, art, science, morality and progress, 
is nothing but the product of an infinitely slow and difficult de- 
velopment and self-education, starting from a rude and brutal 
state, advancing step by step from knowledge to knowledge, 
and rendered possible by an enormous lapse of time, in com- 
parison with which the duration of our own existence is like 
that of a flash of lightning. In the light of such knowledge as 
this, our present state of culture must appear doubly important, 



9o MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

precious and grand, as it is the final result of an immense eleva- 
tion, the production of which has consumed and exhausted the 
powers of so many generations of men. Those who laid the 
first foundations of this great edifice could have had no suspicion 
of its future grandeur! 

"Certainly," cried Professor Joly of Toulouse, equally poetic- 
ally and truthfully, at the close of his lecture upon fossil man, 
endeavoring to bring clearly before his auditors the enormous 
progress made by science and the arts in the long lapse of 
ages, "certainly, the little flint hammers of the first inhabitants 
of Gaul cannot be compared with those heavy blocks of iron 
which are set in motion in our manufactories by the force of 
falling water or of steam. There is a wide interval between 
their frail skiffs, their canoes hollowed out by the axe and the 
action of fire, and our immense armor-plated ships of war. 
There is also a wide interval between the coarse stuffs manu- 
factured at Wangen and ' Robenhausen, and those supple, 
delicate and splendid tissues which are produced by our Jac- 
quard looms. The men of the ages of stone and bronze most 
certainly never suspected that one day the most ingenious 
machines would take the place of handiwork, increasing the 
products a hundredfold, and at the same time improving them. 
They could never have imagined that steam would transport 
our vessels in a few days from one hemisphere to another ; that 
the golden Phoebus and the pale Phoebe would depict their own 
visages in the camera obscura; that the master of the thunder, 
the black-eyebrowed Jupiter, as he was afterwards called, would 
be reduced in our days to play the part of a mere postman ; or 
that man, armed with Volta's pile, would introduce a light more 
brilliant than that of the sun into places where the sun had 
never penetrated. Especially, we may say, they could never 
have suspected that their own existence would be contested 
and even denied by the savants of the Institute." {Revue des 
Cours Scientifiques, 2™* Ann'ee, No. 16.) 



OUR ORIGIN. 99 

In reality the subject of our book is anticipated by the pre- 
ceding considerations and general details, as the view of the 
position of man in nature maintained in it is proved not merely 
by the results of archaeogeological studies or investigations 
upon the geological antiquity of man upon the earth and his 
primitive condition, but equally, or perhaps even still more by 
the results of systematic zoology, comparative anatomy, physi- 
ology, ethnography, psychology and the allied sciences, but 
above all by the study of the developmental history of the 
organism of man and animals, which has become so important 
of late. These results, brought together from such numerous 
and diverse scientific sources, all agree in so unmistakable and 
surprising a manner, and all point so completely in one direc- 
tion, that I hope the careful reader will no longer have any 
doubt as to the true place of man in nature when he has 
reached the end of the following section, which will treat of the 
points relating to the second of the three great questions pro- 
posed by us, — the question : ' ' What are we ? ' ' 

This section will also contain an exposition and discussion of 
the theories which have lately been proposed with regard to 
the infinitely important question of the origin and descent of the 
human race from the world of animals most nearly connected 
with it. 



END OF THE FIRST PART. 



WHAT ARE WE? 



THE PRESENT POSITION OF MAN IN NATURE; HIS DEVELOPMENTAL 

HISTORY AND PRODUCTION FROM THE EGG-CELL. ORIGIN 

AND GENEALOGY OF THE HUMAN RACE. 



" It is dangerous to let man perceive too distinctly how closely he approaches 
the animals, without at the same time showing him his greatness. — It is also 
dangerous to let him see his greatness too much, without at the same time indi- 
cating his lowliness. — Still more dangerous is it to leave him in ignorance upon 
both subjects. — On the contrary, it is of the greatest advantage to give him a 
clear notion of both."— Pascal. 

"Like the Roman emperors, who, intoxicated by their power, at length re- 
garded themselves as demigods, the ruler of our Planet believes that the brute 
animal subjected to his will has nothing in common with his own nature The 
affinity of the ape disturbs and humbles him ; it is not enough for him to be the 
king of animals, but he will also have it that an impassable gulf separates him 
from his subjects, and, turning his back upon the earth, he flies with his threat- 
ened majesty into the cloudy sphere of a special "Human kingdom." But anato- 
my, like those slaves who followed the conqueror's car crying out 'remember that 
thou art a Man ! ' disturbs him in his self-admiration, and reminds him of that 
visible and tangible reality which unites him with the animal world." — Broca. 

"For it is indeed the true characteristic of science, that she casts her net in 
search of results on every side, seizes upon every perceptible property of things, 
and subjects it to the hardest tests, no matter what finally comes of it." — Grimm. 

IN the first section of this book, after giving a general exposi- 
tion of the position of man in nature and showing the great 
importance of the investigations relating to it, we went into the 
details of the question, and by referring especially to the re- 
searches which have been made upon the antiquity of the 
human race, and the rude, brutal state of our oldest ancestors, 
the so-called primeval men, furnished evidence of the natural 
position of man and of his gradual and painful upward develop- 
ment to a more cultivated and truly human condition. 

But in this second section this earliest ancestor of ours will be 

(101) 



102 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

traced in another direction ; and in the first place the question 
will be discussed of the true position which our race occupies 
in the zoological system and with regard to the animal world 
which is so nearly related to it, but especially with regard to the ' 
highest representatives of the Quadrumana, and at the same 
time of the Vertebrate type in general, which come nearest to 
man in form and structure. 

And here again the known facts speak a language so clear 
and incapable of misinterpretation that, when once we are in 
possession of accurate information on the subject, we can only 
ask with no small astonishment how it was possible that this 
matter, at least in its main outlines, could ever have been mis- 
understood or erroneously conceived by men who could both 
see and think. For even at the first superficial glance it must 
be clear to every man who is moderately well educated, that, 
on all sides of his bodily structure, man is most intimately allied 
and bound to the organic world surrounding him, that he 
throughout obeys the same organic laws of form, structure, 
adaptation and reproduction, — and that he must therefore neces- 
sarily be arranged as an integral constituent of one zoological 
system. It was and is possible to overlook this simple and 
important truth only by reason of the immense influence of 
human subjectivity or self esteem, which regards it as degrad- 
ing that we should be placed on the same grade as the animals, 
or arranged with them in the same system. But as a matter of 
course, in scientific matters, this subjectivity must be put in the 
background, and truth can only recognize a perfectly objective 
consideration, to a certain extent abandoning the personally 
human standpoint, or indeed rising above it. This is well ex- 
plained by Professor Huxley in the following manner. "To 
see this rightly," he says, "let us for a moment emancipate or 
disconnect our thinking selves from the mask of humanity; let 
us imagine ourselves scientific inhabitants of the planet Saturn 
and well acquainted with the animated creatures which inhabit 



WHAT ARE WE ? IO3 

the earth, their anatomical and zoological characters, etc. Now 
suppose that some enterprising traveller, whom the difficulties 
of space and gravitation had not prevented from visiting other 
planets, had brought back with him from the earth, among 
other things, a specimen of the genus Homo, preserved may be 
in a cask of rum, and that we have been called together to 
examine this specimen of a creature previously unknown to us, 
of a peculiar ' erect, featherless biped, ' and determine scientific- 
ally its position in the system. What would be the result of 
such an investigation? All the Saturnian philosophers would 
agree without the least hesitation, that the new creature was to 
be arranged in the well known group or sub-kingdom Verte- 
brata, and among these was to b2 referred specially to the class 
Mammalia, as all the anatomical and zoological characters 
presented by it agree precisely with those of that group and 
class. If we were further to inquire in what particular sub- 
division or order of the Mammalia the creature in question was 
to be placed, there could be no more room to doubt that it 
could belong only to one of these orders, namely, that of the 
Simiae or Apes, (using that word in the broadest sense. ) 

The structure of the bones, of the skull, and of the brain, the 
formation of the hands and feet, the teeth, the muscles, the 
viscera, etc. , are all founded in the ape and in Man upon pre- 
cisely the same principles, and Huxley, himself an anatomist of 
great reputation, in his Memoir on the relations of primeval man 
to the animals immediately below him, takes the trouble, (which 
was hardly necessary for educated readers,) of proving in detail 
and by the comparison of every more important organ, that 
all the differences of bodily structure that we can find between 
man and the most highly organized apes, (J. e. , the so-called 
anthropoid or man-like apes,) are not so great in degree as the 
differences between the higher and lower species or families of 
the Simiae. 

"Thus," snys our author in summing up the results of his 



104 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

investigations, "whatever system of organs be studied, the 
comparison of their modifications in the ape series leads to one 
and the same result — that the structural differences which sepa- 
rate Man from the Gorilla and the Chimpanzee are not so great 
as those which separate the Gorilla from the lower apes." 
From all these considerations Huxley draws the important con- 
clusion that, from a systematico-zoological point of view, we 
have not even the right to separate Man as a distinct order of 
Mammalia from the order of the Simiae, or as they have hitherto 
been erroneously called, Quadrumana or four-handed animals, 
and certainly not to sever him (as was formerly pretty generally 
done) entirely from the rest of the world and relegate him to 
a particular kingdom of nature, the so-called human kingdom, 
standing on the same footing as the animal and vegetable king- 
doms. On the contrary, man, considered scientifically, can 
only be regarded as a distinct family of the highest order of 
Mammalia, an order which embraces in addition the true apes as 
well as the so-called Prosimiae, {Lermirs, etc. ) Following the ex- 
ample of the celebrated lawgiver of systematic zoology, Linne,* 
we may most appropriately designate this order by the name 
of "Primates," that is to say, pre-eminent or noble forms. f 
This highest order of the Primates is divisible according to 
Huxley into seven families of nearly equal systematic value. 
The lowest grade is formed by the Galeopithecini or flying 
Lemurs, — the highest by man or the family of the Anthropini.% 

Immediately below man come the great man-like apes and 
the monkeys of the Old world, and the monkeys of the New 
world, as the second and third families in descending order. 

First, the true Apes and Monkeys of the Old world, (Africa 
and Asia,) forming the family of the Catarrhini or "narrow- 

*5ee Appendix No. 16. % See Appendix No. 17. 

t The usual mode of grouping of the animal world proceeding in order from 
below upwards, or from the individual to the more general, embraces the following 
ideas: the species, the genus, the family, the order, the class, the group ox sub- 
kingdom, and the kiiigdom. 



WHAT ARE WE!" IO5 

nosed Simiae;" after these the monkeys of the New world or 
America, called Platyrrhini or broad-nosed Simiae. ' ' 

"Perhaps," says Huxley in concluding his remarkable ex- 
position of this subject, "perhaps no order of Mammals pre- 
sents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this — 
leading us insensibly from the crown and summit of the animal 
creation down to creatures, from which there is but a step, 
as it seems, to the lowest, smallest, and least intelligent of the 
placental Mammalia.* It is as if nature herself had foreseen the 
arrogance of man, and with Roman severity had provided that 
his intellect, by its vei'y triumphs, should call into prominence 
the slaves, admonishing the conqueror that he is but dust. — 
These are the chief facts, this is the immediate conclusion from 
them to which I adverted at the commencement of this Essay. 
The facts I believe cannot be disputed; and if so, the conclusion 
appears to me to be inevitable. ' ' 

The grouping is arranged somewhat differently by Professor 
E. Haeckel, of Jena, who has lately written upon this subject in 
a very thoroughgoing manner. \ He separates Huxley's last 
three families, the Prosimiae in the wider sense of the word, 
entirely from the order Primates, so that in this order there 
remain only man and the so-called true apes and monkeys of 
the old and new worlds. The Prosimiae or Lemures, on the 
other hand, are regarded by Haeckel, as the common trunk- 
group from which the other orders of the so-called Discopla- 
centalia, or Mammalia with a disk-like placenta, % have very 

* Placental mammals are those whose young during- the period of pregnancy- 
are nourished by means of a placenta within the uterus itself. They form the 
highest grade of the Mamm ilia in opposition to marsupials or pouched Mammals, 
which carry their young in a pouch or bag of the abdomen and nourish them there 
by suckling, and probably originated from the latter in geological times, (at the 
end of the Secondary or the commencement of the Tertiary epoch.) 

t Ueber die Entstehung und den S/atnmbaum des Mensclie?igeschlechts. — (On 
the origin and genealogy of the human race.) — Two lectures. — Berlin, 1868. 

X The Discoplacentalia, or Mammalia with a disk, or cake-like placenta, form 
the highest grade of the placental Mammalia, the latter including besides these 
the lower developmental forms of the Zonoplacentalia, or Mammals with a zone- 
like placenta, and the Sparsiplacentalia, or Mammals with a placenta formed of 
scattered lobes or cotyledons. The Zonoplacentalia and Discoplacentalia are 
further united more closely to each other, inasmuch as b >th possess a decidua or 
deciduous membrane, which is deficient in the Sparsiplacentalia. 



106 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

probably been developed as four divergent branches, namely 
the Rodentia or gnawing mammals, the Inseclivora, the Chir- 
optera or Bats, and the true Simiae* 

" Man, however, " according to Haeckel, " cannot be separated 
from the order of the Simiae or true apes, as he stands nearer 
in every respect to the higher apes than these to the lower true 
apes." He therefore forms with these animals the highest 
order of the Discoplacentalia under the common and long 
known name of the Primates, whilst the four other orders of 
this group of Mammals are formed by the Prosimiae, Rodentia, 
Insectivora and Chiroptera. Of the true apes the Catarrhini or 
narrow-nosed forms, the apes of the old world as they are 
called, approach nearest to man, as is shown by the formation 
of the nose, which is characterized by a narrow septum and by 
having the nostrils directed downwards, and also by the denti- 
tion, which is exactly the same as in man, the number of teeth 
being thirty-two, whilst in the Platyrrhini or broad-nosed apes 
there are thirty-six teeth ;f even leaving out of consideration 

* According to Haeckel, the Prosimias are very remarkable animals. While 
probably numerous genera and species were living in the early Tertiary period, 
they are represented at present by only a few living forms which have retired into 
the wildest regions of Asia and Africa. The various genera of the Prosimije ex- 
hibit striking forms of transition to the other orders of Discoplacentalia ; and for 
these as well as other reasons the now living Prosimias may be regarded as the last 
remnant of a very ancient and for the most part long since extinct ancestral group, 
from which the remaining orders of the Discoplacentalia have branched off, and 
in which, so to speak, like four sisters, they had their common root or ancestress. 
Consequently the human race also has to seek its primeval ancestors in the Pro- 
simian, separated from which it is by the intermediate form of the true apes. 
From them Haeckel traces the genealogy of the human race further backwards, 
through the Marsupial, Ornithorhynchian, Amphibian and Piscine stages, to the 
so-called Leptocardia, which appear to be the lowest stage of the vertebrate type, 
(being without head, heart or limbs, &c), and are themselves the product of a 
very long process of development out of the still lower worms, and finally out of 
the most simple conceivable primitive organism (monad). 

t The dentition, as is well known, furnishes a very characteristic indication of 
affinity among the Mammalia, and is therefore of high systematic value. But it 
is not merely by the number, but also by the kind and general structure of the 
teeth, and by their earliest development, that man and the true apes, especially 
the Gorilla, are brought so near together. 



WHAT ARE WE ? 107 

all other similarities or agreements in structure. Only a low 
and small section of this order, the Marmosets of America, 
differ rather widely from man in having the fingers and toes 
armed with claws, instead of nails, such as are possessed by man 
and the other apes. The Marmosets are placed by Huxley as 
the fourth of the seven families established by him in his highest 
order, and Haeckel also leaves them in the order Primates, 
regarding them as a peculiarly developed lateral branch of the 
Platyrrhini. . Among the Catarrhini themselves the Lipocerci 
or tail-less forms approach most nearly to man and are therefore 
called Anthropoid or man-like apes. Under any circumstances, 
according to Haeckel, the anatomical and structural differences 
between man and the man-like Catarrhini are less than those 
between the latter and the lowest representatives of the 
Catarrhini group, such as the Baboon for example.* 

Of the Anthropoid apes there are now existing only four 
genera, with about a dozen distinct species; these are the well 
known Gorilla, Chimpanzee, and Orang-Outan and the Gibbons, 
the last also named long-armed apes. Each of these animals 
has certain peculiarities in which it approaches nearest to man: 
thus the Orang approachesmearer than all the rest by the struc- 
ture of the brain and the number of its convolutions ; the Chim- 
panzee by the structure of its skull and its dentition; the Gorilla 
by the formation of its limbs or extremities, and the Gibbon finally 
by the structure of its thorax. In perfect accordance with this 
peculiar condition of things, the Simian resemblances of the 
lower races of man are in like manner by no means concentrated 
in any one tribe, but are distributed among different peoples in 
such a manner that each tribe is endowed with some inheritance 
from this relationship, some more, others less, as Dr. Weissbach 

*The Catarrhini in general may be divided into two great sections, — the tailed 
and the tail-less. The first of these sections includes the Baboons, Macaques, 
true Monkeys, (Cercopithecus,) Slender Monkeys, (Semnopitkecits,) Thumbless 
Monkeys, (Colobics,) and Proboscis Monkeys; the second includes the Gibbons, 
Chimpanzees, Orang-Outans, and Gorilla. 



IOS MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

has ascertained by the comparison of the measurements of vari- 
ous parts of the body in different races of man collected by 
Scherzer and Schwarz on the voyage of the Novara Frigate, 
(Vienna, 1867,) with corresponding measurements of the Orang. 
According to this writer the Australian has the most resem- 
blance to the apes in the length and breadth of his foot, the 
slenderness of his legs, his broad nose and wide mouth, and the 
length of his arms ; whilst other anthropologists consider that 
in the lateral compression of his skull, the greater number of his 
teeth, the later ossification of the intermaxillary bone, his smaller 
brain and the greater symmetry of its convolutions, as also in 
his long arms and narrow pelvis, the negro presents the greatest 
anatomical resemblance to the apes. Some of the Platyrrhini 
or flat-nosed American Monkeys also possess man-like charac- 
ters. We find among them skulls of a fine, rounded form, 
with considerable development of the brain-case and compara- 
tively small projection of the muzzle, and in strict accordance 
with all this frequently a very man-like countenance. Thus the 
Saimiri has a facial angle* of 65 to 66 degrees, whilst in man 
this angle averages from 70 to 80 degrees, (in the Caucasians 
80 to 85, in the Negroes 65 to 70,) and in the true Anthro- 
poids never amounts to more than 50 degrees, j and thus the 
Saimiri agrees in this respect completely with the Neanderthal 
skull described in the first part of this book, the facial angle of 
which was also estimated at 65 to 66 degrees. According to 
Giebel, indeed, it is only their size that gives the three first- 

* The facial angle of Camper is formed by two lines, one of which touches the 
most projecting points of the frontal bone and upper jaw, whilst the second is 
drawn from the orifice of the ear to the bottom of the nasal cavity. The more 
acute the angle thus formed, the more bestial in general is the face, whilst it be- 
comes more elevated and human in character in proportion as the angle ap- 
proaches a right angle, (90 degrees,) because under these circumstances the 
capsule of the skull, which contains the brain, acquires a preponderance over the 
essential parts of the face or muzzle. 

+ The young of the Anthropoid apes however constitute an exception to this 
rule. Thus in the young Orang, which possesses a very beautifully arched, well 
formed and man-like skull, the facial angle rises to 67 degrees. 



WHAT ARE WE? log 

mentioned Anthropoid apes their man-like character, whilst, as 
regards corporeal structure, some American Monkeys, and the 
Gibbons of which several distinct species exist in southern Asia, 
are decidedly more anthropomorphous. The anthropoid apes, 
two forms of which, (Gorilla and Chimpanzee,) live in Africa, 
and two, (Orang and Gibbon,) in Asia, have only been accu- 
rately known in recent times, so that even the great Cuvier, 
(who died in 1832,) could regard them as creations of the 
imagination of his colleague Buffon. Now, however, all the 
considerable zoological gardens and museums of Europe 
possess living or dead examples of them. It was only by 
report that early fabulous accounts of the existence of such 
animals in distant regions of the earth had penetrated to 
Europe, and upon these Professor Huxley gives us interesting 
information,* together with a sketch of the natural history of 
the anthropoid apes, in the first of the three memoirs which 
he has published under the title of Evidence as to mari s place in 
nature. 

His statements, however, although made only about six 
years ago, have already in some respects become antiquated, 
at least with regard to the Gorilla, ( Troglodytes Gorilla or 
Gorilla Gina,) the last discovered and at the same time the 
most remarkable of the four anthropoid forms. This animal 
is very large, has very man-like limbs, and, when moving 
upon level ground, takes a half erect posture. Du Chaillu's 
narratives of his extraordinary strength and savage nature seem 
to be exaggerated. It is possible that the Gorilla was seen by 
the Carthaginian sailor, Hanno, who, in the year 510 B. C. , 
sailed with a fleet round the west coast of Africa, and found 
wild, hairy men which he named Gorillas upon an island in 
a gulf. 

The Gorilla is at any rate of the four anthropoid apes the one 
which, notwithstanding certain very bestial characters, never- 

* See Appendix No. 18. 



IIO MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

theless shows the most striking approximations in his structure 
to the human form, and partly for this reason, partly on account 
of the strange stories related of him, he has attracted a remarka- 
ble amount of general attention during the last few years. Of 
all the anthropoid apes he is especially characterized by the 
fact that in consequence of the structure of his foot and of the 
muscles of his leg he is able with the least comparative effort to 
stand and walk upright, and at the same time possesses the 
most human forms of hand, although in other respects, espe- 
cially in the formation o r the skull and brain, he is exceeded in 
resemblance to man by some other apes.* 

All this shows clearly enough that the separation of man 
from the Mammalia which approach him most closely as a 
distinct order or class, or even as forming a distinct human 
kingdom, can no longer be maintained in the present position 
of science, and that the entire conception which lies at the 
foundation of this separation must be rejected even from the 
points of view opened to us by systematic zoology. But in 
order to advance as securely as possible with regard to this 
important point we add to the evidence of English and German 
naturalists already cited, the no less clearly expressed opinion of 
a French zoologist of the most modern school. In an excellent 
book upon the Plurality of Human Races, (Paris, 1864,) M. 
Georges Pouchet, rejecting the notion of the existence of a 
distinct human kingdom as set up by Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire 
and De Quatrefages, declares that in his physical or corporeal 
structure man stands in the closest juxtaposition to the anthro- 
pomorphous apes, and that this is a fact which no one can 
seriously dispute. And this resemblance, according to him, 
does not exist merely in external form, but we find it to be 
much greater when we resort to the careful examination of the 
internal parts and most essential organs, or to the microscopic 
investigation of the anatomical constituents of the body. We 

* See Appendix No. 19. 



WHAT ARE WE.' Ill 

can only come to the establishment of a distinct "human king- 
dom" when we compare the two extremes, — the highly culti- 
vated European, elevated and ennobled by inherited qualities 
from generation to generation through thousands of years, with 
the brute animal, — overlooking the innumerable intermediate 
grades which unite them. Even the ideas of good and evil or 
of God and immortality, upon which, in the absence of essential 
corporeal differential characters, M. de Quatrefages thought 
he might found his human kingdom, do not exist among all 
peoples, but are either entirely wanting or in the highest degree 
discrepant. From the animal to man there is only an uninter- 
rupted gradation or chain of allied links, and the same scientific 
method must be applied to both. The order Bimana, (as dis- 
tinguishing man from the ape,) is, according to Pouchet, only 
a creation of the writing table, and could only have been in- 
vented . in a country in which the covering of the feet is 
universal, for the uncovered foot of man, when not spoiled by 
the customs of civilized life, in reality forms an admirable pre- 
hensile organ and is employed as such by nearly half the tribes 
on the face of the earth.* Hence man might be described as 
qiiadritmanons with quite as much justice as the apes, and 
most certainly he cannot be regarded as forming a distinct 
order, but only a distinct family of the group of Mammals 
hitherto characterized as Quadrumana. 

So much for the consideration of man and his relationship to 

* E. Goeffroy saw how the artificers in the bazaars at Cairo made use of their 
great toe for a thousand purposes of grasping or seizing. — A Nubian, or negro, 
on horse-back prefers to take the reins between the great toe and the other toes ; 
and all Abyssinian horsemen ride in this manner. — The negroes on the dahabiehs 
or passenger-boats that navigate the Nile, climb the main-sail yard by seizing the 
sail-rope with their foot. — Modera narrates that one day three naturalists in the 
north of New Guinea beheld the trees full of natives of both sexes, who, with their 
arms behind them, were leaping from branch to branch, gesticulating like apes, 
screaming and laughing. — G. Pouchet. 

Further examples of the use of the human foot as an organ for grasping may 
be seen in my Vorlesungen ilber die Darwin' 1 sc/ie 7 heorie, pp. 197, 198, and how 
very common this use appears to be among wild races in general who live partly 
in trees. In the same direction points the peculiar circumstance that among these 
people the great toe is, as a rule, much further removed from the other toes than 
among Europeans, who by constantly clothing and squeezing the foot have more 
or less alienated it from its original destination. 



112 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

the animal world from the standpoint of systematic zoology. 
As a matter of course the result thus attained is perfectly in 
accordance with that furnished by general and comparative 
anatomy, or the study of the general and special anatomical 
structure of the body in the different classes of animals, a 
science which, since Cuvier's time, has become so amalga- 
mated with systematic zoology that it is no longer possible to 
separate them. As the principal parts or organs of the human 
body agree most perfectly in all essential particulars both of 
external form and internal composition with the corresponding 
parts of animals, especially the Mammalia and their highest 
representatives. Indeed, so much is this the case, that, as is 
pretty generally known, for thousands of years men had no 
means of getting a knowledge of the human body, except by the 
dissection of the bodies of animals. Before men ventured, in 
opposition to the general prejudice, to dissect human bodies, 
the sole aid to the knowledge of human anatomy was the dis- 
section of Mammalia, and by this means they were as well 
instructed as to the essential parts of the human frame, as we 
are at the present day. The celebrated surgeon, Galen, of 
Pergamos, who lived in the second century of our era and set 
up a system of medicine which maintained its predominance for 
nearly fourteen centuries, studied the structure of the body 
only on the carcasses of apes, which he had at once recognized 
as the most man-like in form of all animals ; and as late as the 
sixteenth century anatomy was taught and studied only from 
the skeleton of a Monkey, (the Magot or Innuus sylvamis.) 
Vesal or Vesalius, the body-surgeon of the Emperor Charles the 
Fifth and of Philip the Second of Spain, was the first who 
ventured to dissect human bodies, and in so doing was so un- 
fortunate that during his dissection of the body of a young 
Spanish nobleman who had been under his treatment, the 
heart began to beat. In accordance with the imperfect physi- 
ological notions of that age it was believed that Vesalius had 



WHAT ARE WE ? 



113 



dissected a living man, and in order to expiate this great crime 
the celebrated anatomist was obliged to make a pilgrimage to 
the Holy Land, on his return from which he perished by ship- 
wreck. 

How great the anatomical similarity between man and ape 
must be, may be seen from the words of the celebrated anato- 
mist, Professor Owen, who has studied the subject the most 
carefully of all living anatomists, and whose opinion bears the 
more weight, because he has taken his stand on the side 
opposed to. the view here maintained, and places man and the 
apes in distinct sub-classes, although not upon purely anato- 
mical grounds. 

In a paper, On the characters of Mammalia, (Journal of the 
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London for 1857,) Owen 
says: — "Not being able to appreciate or conceive of the dis- 
tinction between the psychical phenomena of a Chimpanzee and 
of a Boschisman or of an Aztec, with arrested brain-growth, as 
being of a nature so essential as to preclude a comparison 
between them, or as being other than a difference of degree, 
I cannot shut my eyes to the significance of that all-pervading 
similitude of structure — every tooth, every bone, strictly ho- 
mologous — which makes the determination of the difference 
between Homo and Pithecus the anatomist's difficulty. And 
therefore ... I follow Linnaeus and Cuvier in regarding 
mankind as a legitimate subject of zoological comparison and 
classification. ' ' * 

Of course all this cannot make the anatomical difference 
between man and his nearest allies in the series of Mammalia 
any less than it really is, and it is indeed so great that the first 
glance generally suffices to enable the practised anatomist to 
recognise any characteristic part of the body, especially of the 

* " Surely it is a little singular," says Huxley, after citing; the above passage, 
"that the 'anatomist' who finds it 'difficult' to 'determine the difference' between 
Homo and Pithecus, should yet range them, on anatomical grounds, in distinct 
sub-classes!" 



114 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

skeleton or bony framework, as belonging either to man or to 
an animal. But the distinction does not affect the systems or 
organs themselves, such as the bones, muscles, nerves, blood- 
vessels, viscera, etc. , which both in their coarser parts and in 
their more minute chemical and microscopic constitution pre- 
sent pecisely the same kinds of form and arrangement ; it is 
rather a difference of degree, size and development. Some- 
times it is in a greater delicacy of details, a higher and better 
development of particular parts or organs, that the human 
structure exceeds the animal ; or the special arrangement of the 
entire structure acquires a peculiar or divergent formation, as is 
especially seen in the structure of the osseous and muscular 
systems, in that of the trachea, the brain, etc.* But even 
these peculiarities of structure in man often indicate most 
definitely his animal relationships. Thus in dissecting the 
human body we not unfrequently find in the muscular system, 
(which, as is well known, has a greater tendency to individual 
variation than any other part,) peculiarities of arrangement in 
certain bodies closely resembling those occurring in the apes ; 
and according to Dr. Duncan, {Transactions of the Anthropo- 
logical Society of London, i86g,) this condition of things may 
even go so far, that he regards it as an indisputable fact, that 
the anomalies or abnormal variations in the origin and insertion 
of the muscles in man constitute the normal or regular condi- 
tion in the apes. Professor Hyrtl, in his Human Anatomy, also 
particularly cites a number of such variations in the muscles, 
presenting an analogy or correspondence either with animal 
structure in general or with that of the apes in particular, and 
indeed some of these variations are actually described by him 
as "Ape-structures." Precisely in the same manner, the first 
or milk-dentition of man possesses a remarkable similarity to 
that of the apes, and it is only the second dentition that ac- 
quires the true human form. The structure of the three noblest 

* See Appendix No. 20. 



WHAT ARE WE? 115 

organs of sense, (those of sight, hearing and touch,) also shows 
an agreement between man and the apes which is wanting to 
all other Mammalia; this is treated in more detail in the au- 
thor's LeElnres on Darwin, (page 185.) 

It is scarcely necessary to add that the results obtained by 
means of comparative anatomy are completed and confirmed 
by the revelations of comparative physiology or the study of 
the functions of the body in the different classes of animals, and 
in man himself. As the structure and function of an organ or 
living part of the body are known by observation to be always 
necessarily in accordance so long as there is no disturbance of 
equilibrium by illness or defective development, the above- 
mentioned result seems to be a matter of course even upon 
theoretical grounds ; and although man is somewhat or even 
very superior to animals physiologically, this is only to this 
extent, that his physical or corporeal organization is distin- 
guished from that of animals by its higher and finer develop- 
ment, its more complicated structure, by an increase in the 
division of labor, by better adaptation, or by the greater develop- 
ment of certain particularly important organs, and thus is en- 
abled to perform operations which are impossible to animals. 
Nevertheless, just as in the case of the bodily structure, there 
is nothing more than difference of degree or of development, 
and this development commences even with the lowest forms 
of all, and from these ascends gradually, but always under the 
strict observance of the the same universally prevalent laws of 
life. Hence, investigators of these laws of life, physiologists as 
they are called, like the anatomists of former days, have never 
possessed any means of obtaining information as to the physio- 
logical processes which occur in the human body of more im- 
portance than investigations and experiments on animals. We 
may indeed say that three-fourths of our knowledge of human 
physiology or of the laws of human life have been acquired in this 
way, and that this knowledge is no less accurate than it would 



Il6 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

have been had the observations been made upon man himself. So 
far as observations of this later kind are possible they have always 
confirmed the results obtained by the study of animals and the 
conclusions derived from them, either entirely or with very slight 
modifications due to the difference of human structure; they have 
shown that the fundamental laws of life are the same and unalter- 
able in all living creatures. For instance when the cut nerve in 
the thigh of a frog, (certainly a low form of animal,) contracts 
or reacts when irritated, it does this in exactly or almost exactly 
the same way as the nerve of a man would have done if simi- 
larly treated; and when the chest of an animal is laid open and 
the beating of the heart, or the working of the lungs is ob- 
served, we have before us, with only a very slight difference, 
precisely the same spectacle that would have been presented to 
us if we saw the opened chest of a living man. In the animal, 
as in man, the eye serves for vision, the ear for hearing, the 
tongue for tasting, the stomach for digestion, and the liver for 
the secretion of bile; the feet serve for locomotion, the lungs 
for breathing, the kidneys for the separation of water, etc. By 
means of chloroform the animal is stupefied just like the man; 
they live, sicken and die by the same processes and causes. 
Hence the objection that we so often meet with in anti-material- 
istic controversial writings, that the knowledge gained from the 
study of animals cannot be applied to man, who is not an 
animal but something quite different, namely, a man, only 
betrays the grossest and most absurd ignorance of physi- 
ological science or of the laws of life. Even so-called savants, 
especially out of the philosophical camp, are in the habit of 
pluming themselves upon wisdom of this kind, which reminds 
us of the time of Moses or of the land of the Phaeacians.* 

The particular bodily organ or system, by which chiefly man 
is man, which together with his other advantages, (such as the 
structure of his hand, his ere6i attitude, his articulate speech, 

* See Appendix No. 21. 



WHAT ARE WE? 117 

etc.,) gives him his principal superiority over the animal, and 
which is therefore characterized in man by a strength of de- 
velopment not witnessed elsewhere, is the brain in combina- 
tion with the nervous system. This noblest and most important 
of all organs, with which all the mental or intellectual activities 
known to us both in man and animals are indissolubly con- 
nected, is constructed in the Vertebrata in accordance with a 
grand and general fundamental plan, which commences in the 
fishes and . from these animals upwards becomes further de- 
veloped, constantly increasing in distinctness and power, prob- 
ably under the influence of such momenta or causes as Darwin 
has described in his immortal work on Natural Selection. 
The greatest step in this upward development and advance 
towards perfection of structure is not, however, made by the 
brain at the point where we might perhaps have expected it, , 
namely, between the animals and man, but in a much lower 
position, between the marsupial and placental Mammals; for 
here a perfectly new structure, the great commissure, makes 
its appearance and unites the two halves of the cerebrum which 
were previously separate. From this point onwards the two 
great hemispheres of the brain, the most important portions, 
intellectually, of the whole organ, constantly increase in size 
and in the complication of their structure, and arch over the 
cerebellum more and more, until finally, by a complete series 
of gradual modifications, they attain their highest development 
in the apes and in man, in which they are exactly alike in all 
essential parts. For different as the brains of man and of the 
apes may be in size and development, it has nevertheless been 
demonstrated by numerous anatomical investigations of the 
most careful kind, that all the essential parts and relations of 
the human brain are perfectly prefigured .in animals, and that 
the superiority of man is due solely to the comparatively high 
development of these parts, combined with a considerably 
increased size of the whole organ. This important truth cannot 



Il8 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

be better illustrated than by the recent attempt of one of the 
greatest of living anatomists, Professor Owen, to establish upon 
the brain and its structure a specifically distinctive character 
between man and animals. He affirmed that the complete 
over-arching and concealment of the cerebellum by the cerebral 
hemispheres, the existence of the hinder horn of the great 
lateral cavity of the brain and the presence of the so-called pes 
Hippocampi minor, an elongated white swelling on the floor of 
this hinder horn, are all peculiarities of the human brain which 
do not occur in animals, and with which, therefore, peculiar 
and high intellectual powers must also be united. Taking his 
stand upon these assertions Owen thought that he had a right, 
from a systematic zoological point of view, to regard man as 
forming a distinct sub-class of Mammalia, which he called 
Archencephala or ' ' brain-rulers. ' ' 

This remarkable statement at once gave rise to a whole 
series of anatomical investigations upon the brain of the apes 
and to a philosophical dispute of which the details may be 
found in Huxley's well-known Essay on Man s Place in Nature, 
and also in the author's Lectures on Darwin, (2nd edition, 
pp. 182, et seq). This dispute ended in the demonstration of 
the exact contrary of Owen's assertions in so evident a manner, 
that finally their author himself found it necessary to retract 
them publicly, although at the same time he declared his ad- 
herence to his classificational views already indicated, support- 
ing them by the consideration of the general high development 
of the different parts of the brain.* Now it is true that, not 
merely in size, but also in the comparatively higher develop- 
ment of its individual parts, and especially in the number, depth 
and want of symmetry of the superficial convolutions, and in 
correspondence therewith in the comparatively stronger devel- 
opment of the gray substance, (which, as is well-known, must 
be regarded as the true seat of mental or intellectual activity,) 

* See Appendix No. 22. 



WHAT ARE WE? II9 

the human brain far exceeds that of the Mammalia most nearly 
allied to him; but all these superiorities are relative and not 
absolute, and in their details are already indicated or prefigured 
in the brains of the apes in such a manner that the ape's brain 
may to a certain extent be regarded as a sort of sketch or model, 
which has merely been more accurately worked out in man.* 

"The surface of the brain of a monkey," says Huxley, 
"exhibits a sort of skeleton map of man's, and in the man-like 
apes the details become more and more filled in, until it is only 
in minor characters, such as the greater excavation of the an- 
terior lobes, the constant presence of fissures usually absent in 
man, and the different disposition and proportions of some 
convolutions that the Chimpanzee's or the Orang's brain can 
be structurally distinguished from Man's." f 

Now as the brain is the sole and exclusive organ of thought, 
and as all intellectual power goes parallel with its size, its de- 
velopment and its grade of structure in general, just as every 
physiological function depends upon the size, form and com- 
position of the organ which subserves it, it cannot be doubtful, 

* On this affair of Professor Owen, and on the general question of man's 
place in nature, Prof. Broca, in his Report for 1863, (Report on the Transactions 
of the Anthropological Society of Paris), expresses himself as follows : — 

"From the zoological or anatomical point of view, man differs less from the 
four higher Apes than they do from the rest of the apes. With them he consti- 
tutes a natural group, the Anthropomorpha, of which he forms only the first 
subdivision ; and our learned colleague, Prof. Charles Martins, of Montpellier, 
has made us acquainted with two new osteological characters which are met with 

in this group alone Man is man through his intellect ; and if he be 

distinct from the lower animals, he must be so by virtue of his brain, which is 
the organ of intelligence. Nevertheless anatomy finds between the brain of the 
chimpanzee and that of the lord of the earth only slight differences of form and 
constitution, which have been pointed out by M. Auburtin. The distinctive 
marks asserted by Prof. Owen have been repeatedly recognized as inaccurate. 
The higher apes, like ourselves, possess a posterior lobe of the cerebrum, a poste- 
rior cornu of the large lateral ventricle of the brain, and a hippocampus minor; 
and nothing in the order of things, except the very considerable difference of 
volume and the unequal abundance of the secondary convolutions, entitles us to 
assume a decided, absolute difference between the brain of the lowest man and 
that of the highest ape." 

t See Appendix No. 23. 



120 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

that from the standpoint of the materialistic or realistic philoso- 
phy the intellectual life of man must be regarded only as a 
higher stage of development of the faculties which are dormant 
in the animal world. This proposition is demonstrated not 
only by the above theoretical consideration, but also by direct 
comparison of the minds of man and animals and by a thor- 
oughgoing examination of the intellectual and moral faculties 
characteristic of man, both in the civilized and in the savage 
state. However, before going further into this matter, we 
must, in order to be able to judge quite correctly of the position 
of man in nature, first of all take counsel of another science, 
which stands in such intimate connection with those to which 
we have hitherto appealed, (zoology, anatomy and physiology,) 
that it cannot be treated separately from them. I mean the 
equally modern and interesting science of Developmental 
History. 

This comparatively modern science has brought to light a 
number of extremely remarkable facts, which can leave no 
doubts in the minds of those acquainted with its results as to 
the close and intimate relationship of man to the animal world. 
These facts, however, notwithstanding their great importance 
and significance, are unfortunately still entirely or almost un- 
known in many circles; nay, even some naturalists, zoologists 
and anatomists sometimes show a most lamentable ignorance 
of these facts in their writings and statements, to say nothing 
of the speculative philosophers and theologians, who think that 
they can attain to the understanding of man and his place in 
nature by pure thought, or by Divine inspiration, whilst in 
general they have scarcely a suspicion of these facts, or of the 
true laws of nature. "Ignorance and superstition," says 
Haeckel with equal pungency and truth, "are the foundations 
upon which most men build up their knowledge of their own 
organism and of its relations to the totality of things ; and those 
plain facts of the history of development, which might throw 



WHAT ARE WE? 121 

over it the light of truth, are ignored." Indeed, since Darwin 
indicated what has given a perfectly new direction to the study 
of organic nature, namely, that in it every thing depends upon 
development, proper attention has been paid to these facts, at 
least on the part of the younger and more active naturalists, 
and their great significance in a philosophical consideration of 
nature, (which indeed cannot be too highly appreciated,) has 
been recognized. This significance cannot be better indicated 
than in the following words of Professor Huxley: "The facts," 
he says, "to which I would first direct the reader's attention, 
though ignored by many of the professed instructors of the 
public mind, are easy of demonstration and are universally 
agreed to by men of science; while their significance is so great 
that whoso hath duly pondered over them will, I think, find 
little to startle him in the other revelations of Biology." — Let 
us now pass to these facts themselves and give an account of 
them in as condensed a form as possible. 

Every living creature whether large or small, high or low, 
simple or complex, commences its earthly existence in a very 
simple form, infinitely different from its fully developed or 
perfect state, and from this first stage to its final development 
passes through a whole series of successive changes or develop- 
mental stages. These stages or steps have now become per- 
fectly well-known, by the investigations of embryology or the 
study of the evolution of the germ. In all those living beings, 
Plants or animals,) which may be called highly organized, the 
first of these stages is the formation of an egg or germ-cell, 
whilst in the lowest forms increase or propagation is usually 
effected by simple division of the general substance of the body 
into two or more separate creatures, or by budding, (gemma- 
tion,) sprouting and the like.* 

This ovum is the same in its fundamental structure through- 
out the organic world, only differing in slight variations of 

* See Appendix No. 24. 



122 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

form, size, color, &c* We are here specially interested only 
in the ovum of the Mammalia or at all events of the Vertebrata 
in general, and this appears every where to be almost the same 
structure, including even that of man, whose ovum differs so 
little from that of the higher Mammalia, that no essential dis- 
tinction can be demonstrated between them, any more than 
between the ova of different Mammalia. "There is not much 
resemblance," says Professor Huxley in his luminous manner, 
" between a barn-door fowl and the dog who protects the farm- 
yard. Nevertheless the student of development finds, not only 
that the chick commences its existence as an egg, primarily 
identical in all essential respects, with that of the Dog, but 
that the yelk of this egg undergoes division — that the primitive 
groove arises, and that the contiguous parts of the germ are 
fashioned, by precisely similar methods, into a young chick, 
which, at one stage of its existence, is so like the nascent Dog, 
that ordinary inspection would hardly distinguish between the 
two." 

Here, however, we must not have the ordinary fowl's egg in 
our minds, as this, like the eggs of Birds in general, or of the 
true Reptiles, is distinguishable at the first glance from the egg 
of the mammalia, because in it the true egg, which is not larger 
than the mammalian egg and in all respects behaves in pre- 
cisely the same manner, has been surrounded by a nutritive 
yelk, (the well-known yelk of the egg,) which is easily dis- 
tinguished from the formative yelk of the egg, and also by the 
albumen and shell as external additions. 

By means of these additions the bird's egg brings with 
it into the world ready prepared all the materials necessary 
for the formation of the young bird, whilst the egg of the 
Mammal or of man carries with it from the ovary into the 
womb only the supply necessary for the first foundation of 

*For further details upon this subject see the author's " Physiologische Bilder," 
in the chapter on the cell, (pages 261 to 270.) 



WHAT ARE WE? 123 

the young animal, and receives all subsequent supplies from 
the maternal organism.* 

The same facts as in the case of the Fowl and Dog are re- 
vealed to us by the developmental history of every other Verte- 
brate animal, whether it be a Mammal, a bird, a lizard, a snake 
or a fish, and in a broad sense the same may be said of every 
organic being. Always at the outset and at the moment of first 
formation we find a structure which we call an egg, and which 
consists of a small, round, very delicate body, one-eighth to 
one-tenth of a line in diameter, enclosed by a firm membrane 
and filled with a viscid fluid with numerous scattered granules 
which is called the yelk, (vitellus.) In the midst of this yelk 
lies the beautiful vesicular nucleus, one-fiftieth of a line in 

*Just that portion of the fowl's egg which from its minuteness escapes the obser- 
vation of the novice and of the housewife who uses the egg for cooking purposes, 
is in reality the most important, because from it the development of the young 
being begins. It is only after this ovule or proper ovum is formed in the ovary 
that the other substances which complete the egg (yelk, white, and shell) gradually 
take their places around it. These substances contain all the materials necessary 
for the formation of the young chick, as fat, albumen, salts of lime, &c, out of 
which muscles, nerves, bones, and feathers can be developed ; while the calcareous 
shell enclosing the whole, permits by its porousness the entrance and exit of the 
necessary gasses. Now, in order to bring about the development of this crude 
amorphous mass, which contains within so small a space all the elements and dis- 
positions necessary for the formation of a living organic being, nothing is required 
but warmth and a comparatively short time, during which the simple germ con- 
tained in the yelk undergoes a whole series of well-known stages of development 
or formative changes, as the last result of which the finished chick appears. A 
more striking proof of the spontaneous activity and creative force of Nature, ex- 
cluding all not material or not natural influences, cannot be found ! 

With many animals, as with the frog, the whole of this metamorphoses pro- 
ceeds outside of the body of the mother, and not within a closed shell, but openly, 
so that the development can be the more easily observed of the tadpole into the 
proper frog. 

It is well known that the insect world also presents numerous examples of this 
gradual change of form — a change which is often so considerable that only scien- 
tific investigation could demonstrate that animal forms so widely different in 
appearance belonged to each other. Everywhere, however, whether we contem- 
plate the highest or the lowest grades of the animal world, the nature and the 
course of the transformation are fundamentally the same and follow the same im- 
mutable laws. Hence, infinitely various as nature appears in her innumerable 
modes of manifestation she remains fundamentally ever the same, single and 
uniform ! 



124 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

diameter, with its clear contents ; it is also known as the 
germinal vesicle. In this vesicle again a still smaller body, 
(only one-five-hundredth of a line,) is enclosed; this is the 
germinal spot or nucleolar corpuscle. This, as well as the egg 
itself, consists of an albuminoid mass. 

This same simple and similar structure then is exhibited by 
the egg in all the higher animals, especially the Vertebrata, 
before their fertilization by the semen or male reproductive 
material. The remarkable discovery of the egg of the Mam- 
malia and of man in its place of origin, (the ovary,) was made 
not much more than forty years ago by the celebrated embry- 
ologists von Baer. The detached egg on its migration had 
however been previously seen in the oviduct. 

When once the existence of the egg was discovered the next 
thing of course was to ascertain the further course of its develop- 
ment, and to observe how the embryo or foetus was gradually 
. developed from the fertilized egg. The first step in this pro- 
gress is, that the contents of the egg-cell undergo the re- 
markable process called segmentation, in which the originally 
amorphous mass of the yelk, by continual division and sub- 
division, in which the germinal vesicle and its nucleus take part, 
becomes broken up into an aggregation of elementary parts 
called embryonal-cells. These cells in their turn are capable of 
all possible further changes of form, and from them the future 
organism is built up by a constantly increasing formation of new 
cells. As Huxley admirably expresses it: "Nature, by this 
process, has attained much the same result as that at which a 
human artificer arrives by his operations in a brickfield. She 
takes the rough plastic material of the yelk and breaks it up 
into well-shaped tolerably even-sized masses — handy for build- 
ing up into any part of the living edifice. . . . Every part, 
every organ is at first, as it were, pinched up rudely and sketched 
out in the rough ; then shaped more accurately ; and, only, at 
last, receives the touches which stamp its final character." 



WHAT ARE WE ? 1 25 

At the commencement and even through a considerable 
period of embryonic life* this goes on in the different animals 
and groups of animals in so uniform a fashion, that the young 
of all animals are almost exactly alike, or at all events are very 
similar, not only in external form but also in all the essentials 
of their structure, however different may be the form of the 
animal subsequently to be produced from them. In this re- 
spect, therefore, the embryos behave exactly like the egg itself, 
which is found almost everywhere to present at first the same 
form and size. From a certain period of embryonic life, how- 
ever, the differences of the individual forms gradually make 
their appearance and become more and more distinct as the 
creature under observation approaches its permanent structure 
and the time of its birth. But even here it is remarkable that 
the more closely individual animals resemble each other in 
the mature state, the longer and more closely do their embryos 
also resemble each other ; whilst the embryos become earlier 
and more distinctly dissimilar in proportion as the animals to 
be produced from them differ from each other later in life. 
Thus, for example, the embryos of a Snake and a Lizard, two 
forms of animals which are comparatively speaking nearly allied, 
resemble each other in appearance longer than those of a Snake 
and a Bird, two animals which are very far removed from each 
other. 

* The exceedingly important facts of embryology, or the science of the gradual 
development of the embryo from the ovum, were first established about the 
middle of the last century, by the great German naturalist Caspar Friedrich 
Wolf, in his celebrated Generations Theorie. Till that time the altogether 
false belief had prevailed that in the ovum was contained from the first an ex- 
ceedingly minute but yet perfect organic being in the form of the future animal, 
which required nothing more than to grow larger by incorporating the nutriment 
supplied by the media surrounding it. The ancients, indeed, were generally ac- 
quainted with the embryo only in a pretty far advanced stage of development, at 
which the form of the future animal may be recognized with some distinctness ; 
and certainly this gave rise to the theory of evolution, which for a long time 
dominated science. Now-a-days this theory is completely displaced by Wolf's 
theory of epigenesis, which shared the fate of nearly all great discoveries ; for it 
remained unacknowledged for half a century, until Oken, Meckel, Baer and 
others brought it into credit. 



126 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

In the same way, and for the same reason, the embryos of a 
Dog and a Cat continue longer to present a resemblance, than 
those of a Dog and a Bird, or a Dog and a Marsupial animal. 
But at the first beginning and during the first period of em- 
bryonic life the embryos even of the most different animals 
or groups of animals, such as Mammalia, Birds, Lizards, 
Snakes, Tortoises, &c. , are so similar in appearance that, ac- 
cording to the definite assertion of von Baer, they can generally 
be distinguished, from their external aspect, only by difference 
of size. There are also some characters of form and external 
outline, which sometimes, but not always, render it possible 
to distinguish them, but these are exceedingly insignificant. 
Professor Agassiz found this to his cost ; for having one day 
neglected to furnish an embryo in his collection with a ticket, 
he was afterwards unable to determine whether it belonged to 
a Mammal, a Bird, or a Reptile.* 

Thus the study of developmental history furnishes us with 
clear and incontrovertible evidence of the close relationship of 
all living creatures with respect to their first production and 
formation, and in connection with our special subject we have 
now only to ascertain whether this natural evidence possesses 
the same validity in the case of our own species. ' ' One burns 
with impatience," says Huxley, "to inquire what results are 
yielded by the study of the development of Man.— Is he some- 
thing apart ? Does he originate in a totally different way from 
Dog, Bird, Frog and Fish, thus justifying those who assert 
him to have no place in nature and no real affinity with the 
lower world of animal life? or does he originate in a similar 
germ, pass through the same slow and gradually progressive 

* It must not be supposed, however, that no differences exist between the vari- 
ous embryos. On the contrary, there must be such differences of a very definite 
and marked kind as regards both molecular and chemical constitution ; but they 
are so delicate that they cannot be detected either from external appearances, or 
by any ordinary means of investigation at our command. It is to these differ- 
ences of the most minute constitution, therefore, that we must ascribe the founda- 
tion of those differences of structure which afterwards diverge so widely. 



WHAT ARE WE? 1 27 

modifications, — depend on the same contrivances for protec- 
tion and nutrition, and finally enter the world by the help of 
the same mechanism ? The reply is not doubtful for a moment, 
and has not been doubtful any time these thirty years. With- 
out question, the mode of origin and the early stages of the 
development of Man are identical with those of the animals 
immediately below him in the scale, &c. " As regards the 
human ovum, it is in all essential particulars like that of any 
other Mammal, differing, at the utmost, only a little in size. 
Its diameter is one-tenth or one-twelfth of a line, and it is con- 
sequently so small that with the naked eye it can only be per- 
ceived as a little point. But when suitably magnified it is seen 
to be a spherical vesicle containing in its interior a slimy proto- 
plasm or yelk, and in this the cell-nucleus or germiiiai vesicle 
with its nucleolar corptiscle or germinal spot. Externally the 
entire structure, which is also called the ovicell, is enclosed by 
a thick, translucent membrane, the cell-membrane, or vitelline 
membrane. 

It seems unnecessary to give any further description of this 
simple and yet complicated structure, with which every man, 
whether born in a palace or in a hovel, commences his ex- 
istence, as it would require to be made in precisely the same 
terms that have already been used in describing the egg of 
the Mammalia. There is no visible difference between them 
except that of size. Nevertheless such differences do exist, and 
indeed must exist in a very definite and characteristic manner. 
But they do not lie in the external form, although even here 
subtle variations not recognizable by our instruments of re- 
search, may and indeed must exist, but rather in the inner 
chemical and molecular constitution and in the tendency, caused 
by this, to a peculiar systematic and individual further develop- 
ment. ' ' These delicate individual differences of all eggs which 
depend upon indirect or potential adaptation, are indeed not 
directly perceptible with the extraordinarily coarse means of 



128 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

investigation possessed by man, but they are recognizable by 
indirect inferences as the first causes of the difference of all in- 
dividuals. " — Haeckel. 

What is the subsequent destiny of this vesicle or ovicell? It 
quits the organ, the ovary, in which it was formed and matured, 
(in the human subject every four weeks, in animals only at the 
so-called rutting season,) and passes thence by mechanical 
causes into the oviduct. If the egg-cell is not fecundated here 
it is lost and disappears without leaving any traces. If, on the 
contrary, it is fertilized by the male semen, it becomes develop- 
ed in the womb, (jitertis,) into an embryo, and, as a rule, does 
not quit that organ until its perfect evolution into a young 
creature capable of life.* And all this takes place exactly in the 
same way as in any other Mammal. Even the changes of form 
or transformations which the human embryo undergoes from 
this period are exactly the same as have been already described 
in the case of animals. First of all the process of segmentation 
of the yelk or cell-division occurs, commencing by the division 
of the germinal spot and then of the germinal vesicle itself into 
two separate cells. These then divide again, and this process 
is continued until, finally, a spherical mass of cells, called glob- 

* The vital movement and further development of the egg commences at the 
moment when it is fertilized by the male seminal cell, and then up to the close of 
individual life it follows rigidly the direction which has been impressed upon it 
both by its own constitution and by that of the male reproductive material. As 
to the purely mechanical and material nature of this process there can be no 
doubt, and yet the two reproductive elements which meet in it are so minute and 
so slightly distinguishable from other elements of the same nature, that there is 
nothing but an infinitesimal and inconceivable delicacy and difference of these 
materials in their intimate chemical and molecular constitution that can be re- 
garded as the cause of the innumerable (systematic and individual) differences of 
the subsequent development. — "We must stand," says Haeckel, "in wonder 
and admiration before the infinite and to us inconceivable delicacy of the albu- 
minoid material. We cannot but be astonished at the undeniable fact, that the 
simple egg-cell of the mother and a single seminal filament of the father transfer 
the individual vital movement of these two individuals to the child so exactly, 
that afterwards the most subtle bodily and mental peculiarities of the two parents 
reappear in it." Who can venture, in the presence of such facts, to speak of 
"brute " matter or to deny its ability to produce mental phenomena ? 



WHAT ARE WE? I 29 

tries of segmentation, is produced. This aggregation of cells 
now becomes converted into a spherical vesicle, the blastoderm, 
on one side of which a disciform thickening, (the embryonal 
spot,) is produced by continual increase or growth of cells 
from the globules of segmentation which are more strongly ac- 
cumulated at this point. Soon afterwards this embryonal spot 
acquires an elongated or biscuit-like shape and forms the first 
definitive foundation of the true body of the embryo, whilst the 
blastoderm itself is only employed for nutritive purposes. The 
embryonal spot consists of three superimposed and closely 
united leaves, the three germ- lamellae, produced in this way, — 
the cells formed by the process of segmentation arrange them- 
selves in accordance with a plan common to all Vertebrata, in 
three membranous layers, each of which has a perfectly definite 
share in the subsequent building up of the tissues. From the 
outermost or superior leaf are produced the external skin with 
its folds and appendages, (such as the sebaceous glands, sudor- 
ific glands, hairs, nails, &c. ,) and also the active central nervous 
system, the brain and spinal cord. The innermost or inferior 
germ-lamella furnishes the material for the formation of the 
mucous membranes which line the entire alimentary apparatus 
from the mouth to the anal aperture with all its enlargements 
or appendages, such as the lungs, liver, intestinal glands, &c. 
Lastly, the middle lamella gives origin to all the other organs, 
namely, the bones, muscles, nerves, &c. 

As the first visible rudiment of the young organism, an elon- 
gated, shield-shaped elevation of darker color makes its appear- 
ance in the middle of the embryonal spot ; it is surrounded by a 
lighter colored pear-shaped part of the spot, and along it the 
three germ lamellae are intimately united. In the middle 
line or longitudinal axis of this shield-shaped prominence a 
straight shallow furrow or groove now makes its appearance ; 
this is \hz primitive groove , (also called the primitive band or 
axial plate,) which, as Huxley says, "marks the central line of 



I30 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

the edifice which is to be raised, or, in other words, indicates 
the position of the middle line of the body" of the future 
animal. On each side of the groove the superior or outer 
germ-lamella then rises in the form of a long fold or ridge ; 
these two ridges finally unite above and form the so-called 
medullary tube, an elongated cavity for the brain and spinal 
cord, which are to be produced from the walls of this tube. 
The cavity itself becomes the central canal of the spinal cord and 
the brain cavity. In the lowest forms of Vertebrated animals, 
{Amphioxus ^) it remains through life a simple tube pointed at 
each end ; whilst, in all other Vertebrata, the anterior extremity 
of the medullary tube becomes enlarged into a rounded vesicle, 
the first rudiment of the brain, and only the posterior ex- 
tremity, forming the tail, remains pointed. 

Simultaneous with these processes is the formation at the 
bottom of the primitive groove, or in the middle germ-lamella, 
of a solid cellular thread or cartilaginous rod, the notochoi'd, 
(or chorda dorsalis,) on each side of which the middle lamella 
becomes developed into quadrangular dark spots, arranged in 
pairs, the primitive vertebrce, which, with the notochord, con- 
stitute the first rudiment of the vertebral column. The latter is 
produced by the growth, from the dorsal surface of the noto- 
chord, of certain arched processes, which springing upwards 
finally unite to form a tube embracing the spinal cord. Many 
fishes retain this dorsal chord, (which in all Mammalia, and in 
Man, is entirely absorbed,) throughout their whole existence, — 
indeed all the grades of development which the human embryo 
gradually passes through, are permanently represented in the 
great series of the Vertebrata when we pass from the lowest 
forms upwards. The most ancient Vertebrata which we find 
buried in a petrified state in the depths of the earth and which 
opened the great procession of the Vertebrate type in the or- 
ganic history of the world millions of years ago, also possessed, 
instead of a vertebral column, only a cartilaginous rod or gela- 



WHAT ARE WE.' 131 

tinous cord to which we have given the name of chorda, and it 
was only at a later period that this was replaced by the true 
vertebral column composed of biconcave vertebrae. 

In this stage the embryos of all Vertebrata, including man, 
are still perfectly similar. ' ' In the earliest rudiment of the 
embryo," says Giebel,* "when it consists only of the primitive 
groove and notochord, it is impossible for us by the most 
minute observation to distinguish the human individuality from 
that of any other Vertebrate, — of a Mammal or a Bird, — a 
Lizard or a Carp. ' ' 

But even at a still later period the greatest similarity of de- 
velopment persists, and it is only by degrees that the differences 
become more prominent by the stronger growth of particular 
parts. Thus the four extremities of the Vertebrata, which at 
first grow out of the downward processes of the walls surround- 
ing the primitive groove in the form of little buds, and by de- 
grees acquire the true structure of the limbs, are so much alike 
during the first weeks or days of their production that the 
delicate hand of Man, the coarse paw of the Dog, the elegant 
wing of the Bird and the stumpy fore-leg of the Tortoise can 
hardly be distinguished from one another. Nor is there any 
more distinction between the leg of Man and of the Bird, or 
the hind leg of the Dog and Tortoise. And yet there are 
scarcely any parts of the body which, when fully developed, 
are more variously formed than the limbs of the Vertebrate 
animals. In a somewhat earlier stage, when even the rudiments 
of the fingers or toes are not yet formed and the limbs only 
form simple rounded processes shooting forth from the sides of 
the trunk, it is not even possible to distinguish between the fore 
and hind limbs. With regard to the fingers and toes them- 
selves it is a very remarkable circumstance that their presence 
to the number of five is the rule throughout nearly all the 
Mammalia. This applies even to the so-called Solipedes, (e. g. 

* Der Mensch, 1861. 



I32 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, . AND FUTURE. 

the Horse,) which, in the embryo-state, exhibit five toes ; these 
however are afterwards fused together into the hoof -bone, but 
in individual cases, (deformities,) the whole or a part of them 
are retained. 

What is true of the limbs, is true in exactly the same manner 
of all other parts or organs, which all at first have the same 
form and gradually develop their specific and permanent differ- 
ences. The difference however consists very often merely in 
the fact that certain parts or organs, which in the lower series 
of animals attain a permanent development and a corresponding 
importance, lose this importance in higher groups, become ret- 
rograde, and are either entirely lost or retained in a very abor- 
ted state. As an example of such organs we way take the tail 
in man. In the earliest period of his embryonic existence man 
possesses this part in just the same state of development as the 
embryos of tailed and tailless Mammals. It is only towards 
the sixth or seventh week of embryonic life that the tail begins 
to retrograde and finally disappears, leaving only a small rudi- 
ment, consisting of from three to five aborted vertebrae, which 
form the lower extremity of the vertebral column even in the 
adult and fully developed man, but remain concealed beneath 
the skin. They are immediately connected with the sacrum 
and bear the name of the os coccygis. 

The theme of tailed men has already often been treated in a 
burlesque fashion, and the absence of a tail in man has always 
been regarded as an essential prerogative of his and as an im- 
portant distinction from the animal world. 

In all this it was indeed forgotten that in the first months of 
his embryonic existence man is not destitute of this animal 
appendage, — nay that he even bears it about with him, (although 
in a very rudimentary form,) throughout the whole of his life. 
Nor was it taken into consideration that the large apes, which 
are so nearly allied to man, (Orang, Chimpanzee, Gorilla,) are 



WHAT ARE WE? 1 33 

also tailless, of course in precisely the same sense as man. 
According to Haeckel the aborted tail of man is "an incon- 
trovertible proof of the undeniable fact that he has descended 
from tailed ancestors. ' ' He says indeed that in the tail of man 
rudimentary muscles are still present, — the remains of those 
muscles which in earlier days served to move the tail of his 
ancient progenitors. 

But even amongst those ancestors of man which are much 
further removed from him in the great series of organic de- 
velopment, some have impressed their striking and unmistak- 
able seal upon the human embryo. In the first weeks, (or 
days,) of their embryonic life all Vertebrata possess an ex- 
tremely important external structure, which is common to all, 
but subsequently becomes converted into organs of the most 
different kinds. These are three or four fissures on each side 
of the neck, with intervening processes or arches, which in 
Fishes become the branchial arches and are destined to bear 
the respiratory organs or gills, {branchiae.') These branchial 
or visceral arches, also called bronchial arches, with their inter- 
vening branchial or visceral fissures are originally present in 
Man or in the Dog as well as in other Vertebrata. But it is 
only in the Fishes that they remain as they were in the embryo, 
and become converted into respiratory organs, — in the other 
Vertebrata, on the contrary, they find a different employment 
and serve as the rudiments of the different parts of the face and 
neck. 

Similar legacies from the animal world to man, or so-called 
rudimentary organs, are very numerous. We may indicate, 
for example, the so-called intermaxillary bone, which was so 
long supposed to be wanting in man and yet was at last dis- 
covered by Goethe ; * the rudimentary muscles for the move- 
ment of the ear, which by long practice some individuals are 
actually able to use in moving that organ ; the male ?nilk-g lands, 

* See Appendix No. 25. 



134 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

which in many men have even been seen to the number of four, 
(the two lower ones in a very rudimentary state ;) the human- 
milk-dentition and its resemblance to that of the lower Mamma- 
lia in form ; the traces, of ribs on the cervical, (or neck-) ver- 
tebrae in man, &c, &c. 

Rudimentary or aborted organs, which may be detected in 
great abundance throughout both the animal and vegetable 
kingdoms, are among the strongest supports of the theory of 
derivation, as indeed of the monistic or unitarian conception of 
the Universe generally. ' ' If the opponents of this conception, ' ' 
says Professor Haeckel, ' ' understood the enormous importance 
of these facts, they must be reduced to despair. None of these 
opponents has been able to throw even a faint glimmer of light 
upon these extremely remarkable and important phenomena. 
There is scarcely a single one of the more highly developed 
forms of plants or animals that has not some rudimentary or- 
gans. . . . It is the reverse of the formative process, in which 
by adaptation to peculiar conditions of existence and by the use 
of a still undeveloped part new organs are produced, &c." 

These remarkable facts of inheritance and of the existence of 
rudimentary organs, like the previously described embryologi- 
cal and comparative anatomical resemblances in general, stand 
in immediate connection with another, no less remarkable dis- 
covery, which shows that there is not merely a complete paral- 
lelism of the individual and systematic development, but also a 
parallelism of these two with the palceontological development, 
— that is to say the laws, in accordance with which the first 
development of the individual creature takes place, may be rec- 
ognized not merely in the present world, but also in the history 
of the past. It is the well known relation of juxtaposition, 
cause and effect and succession that is unmistakably presented 
to us in this triple developmental series, and demonstrates to us 
with a distinctness which cannot be misunderstood, the great 
affinity of all organic beings to and their derivation from each 



WHAT ARE WE? 1 35 

other. Thus, in the great series of the Vertebrata we find per- 
manently represented all the grades of development which the 
human embryo successively passes through ; and, on the other 
hand, the human embryo passes through a graduated series of 
metamorphoses which closely approximate it at each stage of 
its development to the lower grades of development of the 
Vertebrate type, — that is to say, man (after representing in the 
egg-state the lowest stage of life, the cell or Protozoon,) resem- 
bles a Fish in the earliest stage of its embryological develop- 
ment, then an Amphibian, and only at a later period a Mammal. 
Moreover the different steps, which it surmounts in this last or 
Mammalian stage, correspond to the different stages of develop- 
ment through which the Mammalian type gradually rises from 
the lowest to the higher orders and families.* But this is not 
all ; all these stages or grades of development again precisely 
resemble the steps by which the Vertebrate type has risen 
gradually during geological times and in the course of many 
millions of years to its present state of perfection, and the 
remains and representatives of which we find buried in the 
depths of the earth. This great truth cannot be better ex- 
pressed than in the admirable words of one of the greatest of 
living Naturalists, Professor Agassiz, who says : " It is a facl: 
which I can now assert as universal that the embryos and young 
of all actually existing animals, to whatever class they may 
belong, are the living miniatures of the fossil representatives of 
the same families. ' ' Exactly the same idea is expressed by 
Professor Haeckel in the following words : — ' ' The series of 
multifarious forms which any individual of any series of animals 
passes through from the commencement of its existence, from 
the egg to the grave, is an abridged and condensed repetition 

*"The different animals," says Professor Schaffnausen,'" are the forms of 
animal life fixed at different stages, and the higher animal advances during its 
development through the lower forms, but never perfectly reproducing them, 
since the incessant formative impulse is constantly tending to remove the similar- 
ity again immediately." 



136 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

of that series of different specific forms through which the 
ancestors and primitive progenitors of that species have passed 
during the enormously long periods of geological history." 

Consequently the development of the individual during and 
even after its embryonic existence is nothing more than a short 
and rapid repetition of the course of development of the type to 
which it belongs, or in other words the miniature, enclosed in 
a narrow frame, of the sequence of those ancestors which form 
the entire ancestral chain of the individual in question and 
which in its most essential features is still represented by the 
systematic sequence of the living types of animals. There can 
be no more striking proof of the close relationship and connec- 
tion of man with the totality of organized nature, and especially 
with the animals immediately below him. This fact at once 
throws an equally bright and astonishing light upon the im- 
portant question of the origin and derivation of the human race 
itself, a question which as a matter of course is most intimately 
and necessarily connected with our subject, or the question of 
the position of man in nature. Since the celebrated Darwinian 
theory has brought the doctrine of the derivative nature and 
conversion of organic beings into more general acceptance, and 
at the same time general attention has been attracted directly to 
the relation of man to that doctrine, this equally important and 
interesting question has excited the minds of men in a most 
remarkable manner, and its answer in a Darwinian sense has 
given rise to a very wide spread emotion. We may remark in 
passing that this emotion, which has often been accompanied 
or followed by the drollest outbreaks of virtuous indignation, is 
a striking proof how little the great results of natural history 
have become generally diffused, notwithstanding the innumera- 
ble attempts that have been made to popularize them, and that 
it is precisely the most important results of these investiga- 
tions and the conclusions founded upon them that are still the 
greatest mysteries to the majority of men. 



WHAT ARE WE? 1 37 

It is true that at the root of this emotion lies the just convic- 
tion, which is productive of uneasiness to many minds, that all 
investigations into the position of man in nature and his relation 
to the rest of the organic world must finally lead up to the 
question of the origin and der'vation of the human race, and 
certainly these researches, which are in part of a very difficult 
and subtle kind, and in themselves possess interest chiefly for 
those who make a special study of them, would scarcely have 
interested the public so much, if there were not always in the 
background the necessary and unavoidable tendency to this 
very question. As I stated in my third lecture on Darwin, the 
whole question is to a certain extent an affair of the heart for 
us, and no doubt it requires the most thoroughgoing examina- 
tion and investigation. Professor Huxley, who was the first 
to come boldly before the general public with opinions as to 
the natural origin and animal derivation of man founded upon 
anatomical considerations, expresses himself in the same terms. 
It is true that similar views had often been expressed before 
Huxley, but they were supported less upon particular facts 
than upon general philosophy, or upon reflections derived from 
a general view of natural phenomena. Since Huxley came 
forward, however, numerous voices have been raised in other 
countries on the same side, — in Germany, especially those of 
Professor Ernst Haeckel of Jena and Hermann Schaaffhausen 
of Bonn, the latter as I shall speedily show, having really a 
claim to priority over Huxley, in so far that he definitely 
asserted the animal derivation of man ten years previously. It 
is a very wide spread notion that Professor Carl Vogt, the 
celebrated naturalist and writer, is the true originator of the 
idea of the natural and especially of the Simian origin of man. 
This opinion, probably a consequence of Vogt' s lectures deliver- 
ed in all the great towns of Germany, is in fact erroneous. Vogt 
was even for a long time a very decided and energetic champion 
of the doctrine of the immutability oj species, which necessarily 



138 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

excludes the theory in question, and it is only since Darwin and 
by Darwin's means that he has become of a different opinion. 
But even since this conversion he has never, so far as I know, 
expressed himself publicly upon the point in question so dis- 
tinctly and decidedly as the naturalists just mentioned. 

In his well known Lectures on Man, (Giessen, 1863,) the 
intimate relationship between Man and animals is certainly 
recognized and supported by facts, and the systematic position 
of man is discussed in exactly the same manner as by Huxley, 
— and finally at the conclusion of the work and in the last lec- 
ture the animal and especially the Simian origin* of man is 
represented as the necessary consequence of the whole theory. 
Vogt has also subsequently published a series of investigations 
upon the so-called Microcephalia (not indeed intended for the 
general public,) in which he treats this human deformity as a 
kind of intermediate form between man and animals produced 
by atavism or retrogression, and gives to the Microcephali the 
characteristic name of " ape-men- "t But how far Carl Vogt 

* When the term " Simian origin " is employed it is always to be understood in 
the Darwinian sense, as signifying derivation from an antediluvian, extinct and 
still unknown progenitor, holding a middle place between (he Human and the 
Simian types. A derivation of man from one of the existing anthropoid apes 
has, so far as I am aware, never been seriously maintained by any one. 

t Vogt regards microcephaly as an arrested formation of the brain, especially 
of the anterior hemispheres ; and he believes that it corresponds to a lower 
stage in the developmental history of man, and therefore has a typical signifi- 
cance ; while other investigr tors see in it only a morbid malformation brought 
about by various causes, and deny that it has any meaning in favor of the deriva- 
tion of man from a lower animal. According to Vogt, moreover, there is a 
great analogy between the microcephalic brain and that of the ape as regards the 
laws of their growth, in that both are distinguished from the normal human 
brain by their increase of volume after birth proceeding only very gradually and 
to a small degree, while the brain of a healthy human child during the first year 
after birth makes a vast advance, increasing proportionally nearly as much in 
that time as it does during the rest of its life. Now as arrested growths are in a 
manner the mile-stones on the path which leads back to the point of origin of 
man, microcephali are, according to Vogt, nearer to the ape and so to the 
common ancestor of the latter and man, than is an ordinary man. A description 
of two living microcephali is given, by the author of the present work in No. 
44 of the Gartenlaube for 1869. 



WHAT ARE WE? 139 

has gone upon this point in his public lectures on the primitive 
history of man, or how far he has gone into its details, we are 
unable to judge precisely, as these lectures are as yet only 
known from newspaper reports. In any case Vogt cannot be 
regarded as the originator of the entire theory, merely because 
he was the first to lecture upon it in public. Huxley's work so 
often cited, which marks an epoch in the history of the subject, 
appeared in the same year as Vogt's Lectures on Man and 
treats the question in a far more thoroughgoing and definite 
manner; it has therefore in any case the priority over Vogt's. 
But at a much earlier period than either of them, and indeed at 
a period when, considering the prevalent prejudices in opposi- 
tion to it, greater scientific courage was necessary, Professor 
Hermann Schaaffhausen ventured to lay down the outlines of 
the theory of organic development and to establish as its neces- 
sary consequence the doctrine of the animal derivation of man. 
This he did in three memoirs printed in the years 1853, 1854 
and 1858 : On the color of the skin in the Negro, and the 
approximation of the human figure to the animal form, (1854,) 
— On the persistency and transformation of species, (1853,) and 
On the connetlion of the phenomena of 7iature and life, (1858.) 
As evidence of this I may here cite a passage from the first 
mentioned of these three memoirs, in which the author demon- 
strates by striking examples that not only the color of the skin, 
but also the different form of the head, upon which the distinc- 
tion of the various races of men has been founded, varies in the 
most essential manner with climate, soil, civilization, mode of 
life, &c. , and that from this, in conjunction with the circum- 
stance that the diminution of intelligence in races causes animal 
forms to become more and more prominent, the question must 
arise whether the human form has not been produced from the 
ani?nal, and whether the increase of intelligence has not brought 
about this development? He then continues in the following 
terms: — "There is nothing in the least lowering to man in our 



140 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

regarding his creation as a natural development, nor is the 
human intellect thereby placed upon the same level with the 
intelligence of the animal. We may regard the highest intel- 
lectual and moral interests of the human race as an undoubted 
fact and nevertheless admit the possibility that the human mind 
has risen from a state of animal rudeness to the highest intellec- 
tual development. It will of course be objected that man and 
animal are essentially different. But if we had never witnessed 
the development of the chicken from the egg, should we not 
with still more reason regard these as two essentially different 
things? Why should not the outlines of the moral world of 
man exist in the sentiments of an animal mind ? If organic 
bodies have been constantly advancing towards greater per- 
fection, why should not a gradual unfolding of the intellectual 
powers also be possible? It is a more elevated and worthy 
view of the plan of creation to regard all nature as a whole, 
coherent by its development, than to imagine the Creator re- 
peatedly destroying his creation, in order to set another in its 
place." 

Unfortunately these three admirable memoirs remained too 
little known for them to have exercised any great influence in 
favor of the theory of evolution which was destined soon after- 
wards to make such great progress. And yet they must be 
regarded as having already established that theory and its ap- 
plication to Man in all essential points !* But if we leave out 
of consideration all more profound scientific evidence and 
merely attend to the question of the origin of man, Dr. H. P. 
D. Reichenbach, of Altona, has a greater claim to priority 
than any of the naturalists just mentioned. — On September, 
24, 1851, that gentleman delivered before the Twenty-eighth 
Meeting of German Surgeons and Naturalists in Gotha, a dis- 
course On the Origin of Man, printed at Altona, in 1854, m 
which the doctrine of the animal-derivation of Man was most 

* See Appendix No. 26. 



WHAT ARE WE? 141 

definitely laid down and defended. "But where was the soil," 
he says in this little work, (pages 7 and 8,) which is written in a 
rather grandiloquent style, ' ' where was the soil on which the 
first man was formed and rested, and where the maternal 
bosom from which he derived his nourishment? To these 
questions, however the pride of man may struggle against it, 
we can only answer : The soil on which the first man was pro- 
duced was an animal, — his first mother an animal, — and the 
first nourishment ofi his mouth the milk of an animal. ' ' * 

From all this it is sufficiently clear that the theory of the 
animal origin of man is not, as so many people in their ingnor- 
ance suppose, a discovery of Vogt's, but that it is a theory 
founded upon the progress of development of Science, which in 
some way or another would sooner or later have been brought 
to light. Essentially, as has already frequently been stated, it 
is completely included in the theory of derivation and change, 
and is a necessary and inevitable consequence of this. Hence 
even Lamarck, the celebrated predecessor of Darwin, did not 
hesitate, at the commencement of the present century, to apply 
the theory of transformation established by him to man and to 

* In the further course of his treatise, which starts from palseontological facts, 
Reichenbach relies chiefly on the knowledge which has been gained among 
savage races, and on the points of animal resemblance of the Negro, the New 
Hollander, the Bushman, the Peschera, the savages of the interior of Borneo and 
Sumatra, &c, as well as on their lower grade of mental culture. Also, towards 
the end of his pamphlet he distinctly expresses the idea of the gradual rise of the 
whole animal and vegetable kingdoms from a cell-formation intermediate between 
plant and animal; and he concludes with the words : " But what is the most in- 
comprehensible of all is, that a great natural philosopher of our time should say 
that man is only a modification of the Deity, when we know from nature that he 
is only a modified animality." 

That these views, so openly expressed at that time, in opposition to the general 
prejudice, did little more than draw upon their originator ill-will and scorn, and, 
after they were printed, passed away without leaving a trace, is easily understood. 

The writer had an opportunity, at a subsequent assembly of naturalists, of be- 
coming acquainted with the old gentleman who had such an acute presentiment 
of the scientific future ; and certainly the triumphant development of his views 
which has followed must have been a joy and satisfaction to him, even though he 
himself remained forgotten. 



142 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

assert the gradual production of man from a man-like species of 
Ape. Lorenz Oken, the head of the Natural Philosophical 
School in Germany, which embraced similar ideas, also ex- 
pressed himself in the same manner, (1809 to 18 19.) 

Darwin himself, the true father of the evolutionary theory 
now prevalent, proceeded more cautiously than Lamarck, and 
for some reason not yet explained, left the question whether and 
how far this theory is to be applied to man, untouched.* This, 
however, did not prevent its being perceived that the animal 
origin of man is equally a necessary consequence of the Dar- 
winian as of any other theory of evolution, and it is undoubtedly 
recognized as such by all the serious adherents of Darwin. But 
even if this were not the case it would not alter matters in the 
least, for without Darwin and the Darwinian theory Anthropology 
would of itself in course of time have arrived at this necessary 
result, — Indeed even before Darwin it had already been attained, 
although only in the minds of certain individual students. If 
we accept only one great law of organic development, leaving 
out of consideration Darwin and his theory, its correctness or 
incorrectness, we can form no other hypothesis of the produc- 
tion of man. For it is impossible to conceive that this law of 
development has suddenly been broken at a particular point, 
and that by supernatural intervention a new member of such 
importance as man has been inserted in the natural series of 
beings and provided with all those animal resemblances, indica- 
tions of relationship, etc., which should belong to him in 
accordance with that law.j Such considerations as these had 
led the author of this book, long before anything was known of 
the Darwinian theory, to the idea of the natural origin of man 

* This was written before the publication of Darwin's celebrated work, The 
Descent of Man. — E. 

t "If the theory of derivation," says Professor Haeckel (two lectures on The 
Origin and Genealogy of the Human Race, 1868,) be a necessary and general law 
of induction, its application to man is only an equally necessary special law of 
deduction, — a theory which follows from the former by inevitable necessity." 



WHAT ARE WE? 143 

and especially of his animal descent, an idea he expressed openly 
and without circumlocution as long ago as the year 1855 in the 
first edition of his work on Force and Matter, without at that 
time, having the least suspicion how soon positive observation 
and the advancing knowledge of nature would lend efficient aid 
to this idea. At present (but already fifteen years have elapsed) 
the theory of the animal origin of man is an undeniable require- 
ment not merely of a rational theory but of positive investigation 
and of science itself. It is supported above all things by the 
common plan of development in the organization of the entire 
living world, which as already stated is most clearly and indis- 
putably revealed in three directions (geologically, systematico- 
anatomically and embryologically.) Then we have all the pos- 
itive arguments which arise from direct comparison, and which 
were first laid down connectedly and with distinct reference to 
this object by Professor Huxley in his three celebrated essays 
on The Position of Man in Nature. After furnishing in the 
first of these memoirs a detailed description of the four most 
man-like apes, the Gibbon, Chimpanzee, Orang and Gorilla (an 
abstract of which is given in Appendix No. 18, of the present 
book,) Professor Huxley passes, in his second memoir, to his 
well known anatomical comparison of the structure of the body 
of man with that of the large apes, especially the Gorilla, and 
arrives at the important conclusion, which has already been 
mentioned, that the anatomical differences between man and 
the most highly organized apes are not so great or so im- 
portant, as the differences of the various families of apes. In 
his mind and in that of every thinking person, this result leads 
to the further question, — if we admit the mutual derivation of 
animals : is this principle also to be applied to man and to the 
equally interesting and important question of his first origin? 
Huxley of course answers this question with a decided affirma- 
tive and adds that in such case either the origin of man must 
be explained by the gradual transformation of a man-like ape, 



144 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

or man must be regarded as a special branch of the same funda- 
mental animal stock as the apes. This necessarily leads Huxley 
further to the Lamarckio-Darwinian theory of the transformation 
of species, of which he confesses himself to be an adherent, at 
least in general. Hence also he naturally becomes a decided 
supporter of the animal origin of man. "But," adds Huxley, 
after this declaration of opinion, "even leaving Mr. Darwin's 
views aside, the whole analogy of natural operations furnishes 
so complete and crushing an argument against the intervention 
of any but what are termed secondary causes, in the production 
of all the phenomena of the Universe, that, in view of the 
intimate relations between Man and the rest of the living world, 
and between the forces exerted by the latter and all other 
forces, I can see no excuse for doubting that all are co-ordinated 
terms of Nature's great progression, from the formless to the 
formed — from the inorganic to the organic — from blind force 
to conscious intellect and will. ' ' 

It would be impossible to express more distinctly and de- 
cidedly the fundamental idea of the materialistic conception of 
the universe and nature, and the developmental theory which 
stands in necessary connection therewith.* 

At the conclusion of this essay Huxley also speaks in admira- 
ble terms, which we cannot take too much to heart, upon the 
absurd fears entertained by the general public and their un- 
founded horror of any such theory. For this I must refer the 
reader to the work itself. 

The third and last of Huxley's memoirs relates to some 
recently discovered fossil remains of Man, which appear fitted 
to a certain extent to fill up or at least diminish the structural 
interval which separates Man from the animals, and thus to 
add palaeontological arguments to those hitherto obtained from 
systematic, anatomical and embryological investigations as to 
the position of man in nature and his animal origin. The most 

* See Appendix No. 27. 



WHAT ARE WE? 1 45 

important of these remains is the celebrated Neanderthal skull 
already mentioned and described in the first seclion of this 
work, (page 76,) which Huxley describes as the most ape-like 
of all the human skulls that he has ever seen, and of which he 
says that in its examination we meet with ape-like characters in 
all parts, and also that it has the greatest similarity with the 
existing Australian skulls and with the ancient Borreby skulls. 
Huxley also states expressly that this skull is by no means an 
isolated phenomenon, but that it is only the extreme term of a 
long series of bestial or at least very lowly developed human 
skulls of the past and present periods. A detailed account of 
the discoveries relating to this subject has already been given 
in the first section of this book. 

Since Huxley wrote as above cited, a great number of similar 
discoveries confirming the idea of the relationship of man to 
the animal world have been made, and amongst these the most 
remarkable is the discovery of the celebrated human jaw of La 
Naulette. 

But before I pass to the detailed description of this discovery 
I will remark that the mandible or lower jaw is of all the bones 
of the body that which in the first place is most readily pre- 
served, and, in the second, is most frequently met with in a 
fossil state separated from the rest of the skeleton. The latter 
circumstance is due to the fact that in consequence of its loose 
attachment to the upper jaw, (which is effected only by a small 
and not very firm joint and in other respects by muscles which 
are subject to decomposition,) it is separated from the rest of the 
skeleton more readily and quickly than other bones ; the 
former to the fact, that by reason of its peculiarly solid 
consistency, which resists destructive agencies, it is able to 
persist longer than other bones in the soil. To this we may 
add that when once this bone is separated, from its compara- 
tively small size and corresponding lightness, it is more readily 
carried to a distance by external agencies than other parts of 



I46 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

the skeleton, and may easily be deposited in any place. If this 
applies to the lower jaws of animals, which on account of their 
solidity and other characters were preferred by the primeval 
men for the manufacture of weapons, tools, etc., it applies also 
and in a still higher degree to the very solid and characteristic- 
ally formed lower jaw of man ; and the lower jaw has in fact 
been found more frequently than any other parts of the body 
in the researches that have been made for the fossil remains of 
our earliest ancestors. 

■ Thus, in the year 1866, a fragment of a human jaw with very 
remarkable and animal characters was found by the indefatiga- 
ble Belgian Cave-explorer Dr. Edward Dupont in the Tron de 
la Naulelte, a bone-cave situated on the bank of the little river 
Less^, not far from the village of Chaleux. It was in a deposit 
of river-loam covered with a layer of stalagmite and at a depth 
of about four metres. The most remarkable of its char- 
acters, besides the comparative thickness and rounded form of 
the bone and its elliptical dental curve, is the almost entire 
absence of the chin. The projecting or prominent chin is so 
distinctive a character of man, that Linne, the great law-giver 
of systematic zoology, could name no better bodily distinctions 
between man and animals than the upright position and the 
prominent chin of the former. In animals, instead of project- 
ing, the chin retreats, and the jaw of La Naulette holds an 
intermediate position between the two ; where the projection 
of the chin ought to be, it exhibits a line descending perpen- 
dicularly. 

Moreover, the cavities destined for the reception of the canine 
teeth are remarkably wide and large, as in animals, although 
the canines themselves are closely contiguous to the incisors 
and molars, and the jaw is thus shown to be undoubtedly of 
human origin. But what is still more remarkable than this is 
the circumstance that the three hinder or persistent molars 
present exactly the same relative sizes as is usual in the anthro- 



WHAT ARE WE? 147 

pomorphous apes. Thus, whilst in the higher races of Man the 
three true molars are so arranged that the first is the largest 
and the last or hindermost the smallest, we find in the dentition 
of the lower races, such as the Malays and Negroes, that all 
the three molars are of equal size, and throughout larger than 
usual. But in the Anthropoid apes the first true molar is the 
smallest and the last the largest, and this is the case also in this 
fossil human jaw, the last or hindermost molar of which even 
appears to have possessed five roots. (The large size of the 
hindermost molar certainly indicates a low grade of Organiza- 
tion. ) To all this may be added that the inner surface of the 
jaw at the. point of the so-called suture or symphysis, behind 
the incisor teeth, forms a line obliquely directed upwards and 
consequently leaves no doubt as to the prognathism, (a very 
characteristic mark of the animals and lower races of man,) of 
its former possessor. 

All these characters in conjunction with the general aspect of 
the bone indicate that it is a human lower jaw of very animal 
formation, and especially that it is the most ape-like jaw hitherto 
discovered. It was found associated with the bones of extinct 
animals, principally the Mammoth and woolly Rhinoceros, so 
that there can be no doubt as to the faci that this man must 
have been a contemporary of those animals, and must therefore 
have lived in the so called Mammoth period. The implements 
or flints found with it also correspond to that period and 
present the same type as those of St. Acheul, (Valley of the 
Somme.)* 

The lower jaw of La Naulette is, however, no more a pe- 
culiar and isolated bone of its kind, than the Neanderthal skull 
in its way, but it is supported in its evidence by a complete 
series of similar or allied bones. Such is the celebrated human 
jaw of Moulin-Quignon, already described, (page 43,) which 
displays a tendency towards animal structure in the shortness 

* See Appendix No. 28. 



148 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

and breadth of the ascending ramus, the equal height of the 
two apophyses, the indication of prognathism furnished by the 
very obtuse angle at which the ramus joins the body of the 
bone, etc. ; and also the human jaw belonging almost exactly to 
the same type, (according to Pruner Bey,) which was found 
near Hyeres, But above all we must mention the jaw found in 
the cave of Arcis-sur-Aube, (Burgundy,) associated with bones 
of extinct animals, which possesses all the essential chara6lers 
of the jaw of La Naulette, although in a somewhat less degree ; 
and that discovered in a fissure of the tertiary limestone near 
Grevenbriick and described by Schaaffhausen, (Sitzungsber. 
der niederrhein. Gesellsch., 1864, page 30,) which indicates a 
low structure by its elliptical dental curve and inlying dentary 
bone ; whilst the human lower jaw found in the cave of Frontal 
associated with reindeer bones is remarkable for the size of the 
molars and the extraordinary thickness of the bone in the molar 
region. Finally, we have to notice the fossil human jaw already 
referred to, (page 46,) from the gravel-pits of Ipswich, which 
was exhibited in April, 1863, to the Ethnological Society of 
London, and exhibits, with all the signs of very high antiquity, 
the characteristics of a low conformation. 

We may look forward with confidence to further discoveries 
of the same kind, although the conditions are peculiarly un- 
favorable for the preservation of human bones from the reindeer 
period and from a period preceding that of the cave-inhabitants, 
and although their preservation can as a rule be anticipated 
only in particular cases and by a combination of peculiarly 
favorable circumstances. It must be remembered, however, 
that the traces of those innumerable generations of animals, 
which peopled the surface of the earth from its earliest existence, 
and whose bones in general possessed a much greater power of 
resisting destructive agencies than those of man, have nearly 
all disappeared with the exception of a comparatively few relics, 
which a happy chance has buried in the interior of protected 



WHAT ARE WE ? 149 

caves, in the depths of peat-mosses or in the sand and gravel of 
former rivers ! 

But this very difficulty of preservation, and the small number 
of very ancient human remains render it all the more signifi- 
cant that these remains almost without exception bear upon 
them the evident signs of an inferior conformation, and that 
among them there are some which exceed in their animality of 
character the lowest and most animal of existing races of men ! 
To this we must add that these discoveries have hitherto been 
made almost exclusively in regions now inhabited by civilized 
nations, and in which we certainly cannot place the so-called 
cradle of mankind. Under any circumstances the discoveries 
hitherto made by no means point upwards, as ought to be the 
case in accordance with the old opinions, but downwards, and 
indicate the existence of a ruder, more animal and more lowly 
developed human race, which formed to a certain extent an 
intermediate form between the existing men and the highest 
known forms of animals, and of which the remains still remain 
buried in the depths of the earth. Moreover we must not forget 
that the common character of all these lower structures consists 
in a tendency towards that fcetal conformation or towards that 
early stage in the development of man, which has already been 
described in its chief outlines, and that in this again the general 
harmony of organic nature, a condition of the law of develop- 
ment which we have seen to be its fundamental law, is most 
distinctly manifested. Why, we cannot help asking, why has 
not a single discovery or a single fact been made known, which 
contradicts this fundamental law or proves the former existence 
of a more perfect, more highly organized or more highly de- 
veloped race of men ? 

Significant as all these discoveries are in themselves it is, 
however, unnecessary for the theory of evolution that we should 
find directly intermediate stages between the forms of men and 
animals living in the present day, as it is now almost universally 



150 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

admitted by all adherents of Darwin or of the doctrine of deri- 
vation, that man is not directly derived from the Anthropoid 
or Man-like apes with which we are acquainted, but from an 
unknown and long since extinct intermediate or ancestral form, 
or perhaps from several such forms, in exactly the same way 
that, in accordance with the Darwinian theory, we assume the 
former existence of similar extinct stocks for nearly all living 
forms of animals. We should thus have to assume one or 
more ancestors of this kind for man and animals, and to sup- 
pose that the existing forms of man and of the higher apes are 
only the last offshoots of developmental series ramifying at an 
early period from common fundamental stocks. 

This opinion is also essentially supported by the facl: already 
cited that the truly human characters or resemblances are not 
combined in any single genus of Anthropoid apes with which 
we are acquainted, but distributed among them in various 
ways. Indeed, particular human characters, such as the forma- 
tion of the skull and face, are more highly developed in the 
group of the Platyrrhini, notwithstanding its distance from 
man, than in the Catarrhini, or even in the true Anthropoid 
apes themselves. This remarkable fact leaves scarcely any 
doubt that a separation of originally combined characters and a 
ramification in various directions during further evolution, such 
as the theory of derivation compels us to accept for most of the 
higher existing forms of animals, must have cooperated also 
in the production of man and in his branching off from the 
common fundamental stock of the Primates ; and according to 
this theory the living forms of Anthropoid apes are to be re- 
garded not indeed as the ancestors or progenitors of man, but 
as his near relations or cousins. 

This view finds further efficient support in the well known 
circumstance that quite recently some fossil remains of apes 
have been discovered, which seem to indicate the actual former 
existence of such primitive stock-forms. Of these a short ac- 



WHAT ARE WE? 151 

count has already been given in the author's Lectures upon the 
Darwinian Theory, (pages 204 and 205.) These discoveries 
have hitherto been made only in Europe, (France and Switzer- 
land,) but similar ones may fairly be expected in those tropical 
or equatorial regions which are now the true home of the 
Anthropoid apes, and especially in their tertiary formations, 
most probably those of southern Asia.* There, or in Africa, or 
in the Islands of the Malay archipelago, we shall probably some 
day meet with that Man- Ape or Ape-Man, with that immediate 
intermediate form between man and animal, which certainly has 
not yet been found, but whose former existence is indicated by so 
many convincing proofs, f That this intermediate or transi- 
tional form is no longer in existence need not surprise us, as it 
is well known that all the non-persistent intermediate forms 
become extinct with greater facility and rapidity than other 
types, and the chief cause of the comparatively large gaps 
which we now detect throughout the plan of creation is to be 
found in this rapid extinction of the intermediate forms. 

Hence, although the gap or interval between man and ani- 
mal, which nowadays certainly exists and is of great width, 
seems to be one which can scarcely be filled up, we do not 
hesitate to regard such a condition of things as founded upon 
the natural plan of development, and consider that this ap- 
parently immense gap has not always exhibited the same void 
that it does at present. Already the great apes are in course 
of extinction, and they become rarer from year to year by the 

*The existence of fossil apes was formerly regarded as impossible, but we are 
now acquainted with no fewer than fourteen species, of which Europe has fur- 
nished six or more ; whilst the great continent of Africa, the special habitation of 
ape-like men and man-like apes, has not yet offered a single example of this kind. 
Africa, however, has been but little investigated. 

t Even if this palaeontological intermediate form should never be discovered, 
we must, in estimating the importance of this fact, bear in mind the extreme im- 
perfection and incompleteness of the geological record of creation, interrupted as 
it is by sunken or submerged lands. " Geology. is a magnificant inscription, but 
forever disfigured ; we can certainly decipher some fragments of lines relating to 
those long past times, but we shall never read the whole." — G. Pouchet. 



152 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

advance and competition of man. In a short time they will 
have entirely disappeared. The lower races of man, which 
exhibit so much animality of structure, likewise die out year by 
year, and the savants of future ages would therefore have to 
regard the interval between man and the animals as still deeper 
and more impassable than it appears to us, if they did not 
possess in writings, pictures and collections such evidences of 
the past as may enable them to arrive at a sound judgment. 

Now that these results have been established in a general 
way, and the animal origin of man has been shown to be most 
probable, especially upon natural History grounds, we have to 
ascertain how such a process of the production of man from 
animal or animal-like beginnings may also be possible or con- 
ceivable in its details, in other words, the when ? where 9 and 
how ? of his first production. We have also in an especial 
manner to decide whether a unity or a. plurality of origin is to 
be regarded as probable or certain 

This last important question coincides with or forms part of 
the question as to the unity or plurality of mankind in general, 
which has been so often treated and already answered in the 
most various fashions, — a question which has constantly given 
rise to innumerable and continuous disputes among naturalists, 
and has divided them into two great parties — the so-called 
monogenists and polygenists. Essentially these disputes only 
reproduce the old obscurity, removed by Darwin, as to the 
signification and origin of the idea of the species ; hence the 
whole question has lost most of its former importance, since 
Darwin's appearance. For if we once accept the possibility of 
the conversion of the ape-type into the human-type, (whether 
gradually or by sudden changes,) it is of little consequence to 
the argument, whether this conversion has taken place one or 
several times and in one or several places, or whether the exist- 
ing differences among the individual races of men are due to 



WHAT ARE WE? 153 

gradual transformations of an originally uniform type or to 
original differences of derivation. As a matter of science, 
therefore, it is quite indifferent whether the old, equivocal idea 
of species is or is not applied to man with all his variations and 
aberrations ; the whole dispute retains a fundamental signifi- 
cance only for the theologians and theological naturalists, who 
still, quite erroneously, invoke the mythical narratives of the 
Bible in proof of the specific unity of the human race. 

But even if we place ourselves at the former standpoint of 
science and apply the antiquated idea of species to Man, the 
facts are but little in favor of the Biblical, (or philosophical,) 
unity of the human species. For the African Negroes, the 
Chinese and the Aryans are certainly in the sense of biological 
science as well characterized species at the best-founded of 
those which zoology has ever distinguished among animals, 
although all these forms have hitherto been regarded only as 
races or varieties of a single human species.* And among 
these which we may call good species, we have then no small 
number of bad or doubtful species to intercalate. In this respect 
philology furnishes the same result as biology and shows it to be 
scarcely conceivable or possible that all the tribes of the earth 
can have originated from a single pair, at all events at a not 
very distant period. A distinguished historian and philologist 
in comparing the languages of the extreme east with those of 
the Aryan group says that, ' ' if the planets whose physical con- 
stitution resembles that of the earth are inhabited by organized 
beings like ourselves, we may assert that the history and lan- 
guages of those planets will not differ more from ours than do 
the history and language of the Chinese. ' ' According to the 
celebrated linguist A. Schleicher, also, it is "positively im- 
possible to refer back all languages to a single primitive tongue. 
An unprejudiced investigation rather indicates as many primi- 
tive languages as there are distinguishable stock-languages. 

* See Appendix No. 29. 



154 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

We must, consequently, suppose a large but indeterminate 
number of primitive languages. ' ' * (See Schleicher on the 
significance of language in the nahiral history of man, 1 865. ) 

To return now to the matter immediately before us. Look- 
ing at it from the standpoint of the derivative theory, many 
observers have been struck by the fact that there is a remark- 
able agreement in the color of the skin and also in the formation 
of the skull between the extreme human races and those an- 
thropoid apes which even now inhabit the same regions of the 
earth with them. For the Orang or Orang-Outan which in- 
habits the Asiatic Archipelago, is of a yellowish red color and 
brachycephalous or short-headed like the Malays ; whilst the 
Chimpanzee and the Gorilla, both of which are indigenous to 
Africa, are black and dolichocephalous or long-headed like the 
Negroes. 

This peculiar relation would seem to indicate a common 
origin for both, so that it is possible the yellow or short-headed 
man might have originated from a stock-form resembling the 
Orang, and the black or long-headed man from one resembling 
the Gorilla or the Chimpanzee. This supposition has been 
chiefly put forward by Professor Schaaffhausen, who calls 

* According to Schleicher, certain language-provinces may be distinguished on 
the earth's surface, just as botanical and zoological provinces have been. This 
holds good, for example, of all the languages of the aborigines of America, which, 
notwithstanding all their variety, exhibit such an agreement that a special original 
source, common to them all, may be imagined. Most confusedly intermingled 
are the civilized languages of Asia and Europe. 

Consequently, we have every reason to suppose that, in essentially homogeneous 
and neighboring districts, similar types of language were developed indepen- 
dently, just as, it may according to all probability be supposed, was the case with 
man himself. 

The origin and development of language as such, of course, falls far anterior to 
all history, and accordingly in the second of the three periods distinguished by 
Schleicher for the development of man generally : i, of physical development ; 2, 
of the development of language ; 3, of historical life. Indeed, many organisms 
on the way to becoming man may not have been developed up to the stage of 
speech-formation, but have fallen into a stationary condition and then become 
retrograde. " The remains of these beings that have continued speechless, be- 
come arrested and never become human, and are presented to us in the anthropoid 
apes of the present time." 



WHAT ARE WE? 1 55 

attention to the fact that southern Asia and equatorial Africa 
are precisely those parts of the earth's surface which have given 
origin to the two extremes of human structure, between which 
all the other forms may be arranged. These two crude and 
original types of the long-headed and short-headed man, the 
Ethiopian and the Mongol, the African and the Asiatic, which 
as we have said, even at the present day form the two extremi- 
ties or opposite poles of the long series of Men, may be recog- 
nized in all their distinctness in the oldest trace or remains of 
our race upon the earth, and thus indicate a probable difference 
of origin. . It is true that in Europe we find both forms mixed 
together even at the most ancient part of the human period 
known to us, but, according to Schaaffhausen, this may possibly 
be due to an alternate immigration of both races from Asia and 
Africa in primeval times. The circumstance that the most 
ancient civilization had two starting points, (India and Egypt,) 
of which one is in Asia and the other in Africa, is also in ac- 
cordance with this view. 

However, Schaaffhausen admits, (as indeed he cannot help 
doing,) that, in accordance with the Darwinian theory, which 
presupposes the unlimited variability of all organic beings, it 
must be possible that the human race originated from a single 
pair, but he regards such an assumption as improbable. ' ' The 
Gorilla and the Orang," says Schaaffhausen, "are also both 
Anthropoid or man-like apes of very similar structure, but what 
is there to'prove their common origin ? "In the same way there 
may have been for man several developmental series,. starting 
from primitive forms separated from each other in space. ' ' 

The most decided of the polygenists is Carl Vogt, who, even 
before his acceptance of the Darwinian theory, was one of the 
most zealous supporters of the plurality of the human species 
and also of their multiplicity of origin. According to him the 
facts do not indicate a common stock or a single intermediate 
form between man and ape, but lead us to assume "several 



I56 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

parallel series, more or less limited locally, which may have 
been developed from the different parallel series of the apes." 
Even the American man may, according to Vogt, have origi- 
nated separately from American apes. 

The theory of the animal or more specially the simian origin 
of man has received its widest and most consistent development 
at the hands of Professor Haeckel, who has followed it out 
strictly in accordance with the Darwinian theory, and from a 
point of view standing intermediate to those of the polygenists 
and monogenists.* 

According to him this doctrine is of such importance, ' ' that 
hereafter men will celebrate this vast advance in knowledge as 
the commencement of a new period in human development." 
From zoological comparisons Haeckel concludes that all the 
apes of the old World must be descended from a single stock- 
form which possessed the same nasal structure and dentition as 
all the living Catarrhini or narrow-nosed apes ; and from this he 
draws the further conclusion, that man has also been developed 
from it, or that the human species is a branch of the Catarrhine 
group and must have been developed in the old World at a 
period of hoary antiquity from Apes belonging to this group 
which have long since disappeared. Haeckel regards the no- 
tion that the American man had a special origin from apes 
living on that continent, as perfectly erroneous ; in his opinion 
the primitive inhabitants of America migrated there from Asia, 
and perhaps in part also from Polynesia. 

"As regards the genealogy of Man," says Haeckel, "it is 
quite certain that he must seek his immediate animal ancestors 
among the Catarrhini. Of course no single one of all the 
living apes is to be reckoned among these ancestors, which 
have long since become extinct, and at the present day man is 
separated from the Gorilla by a gulf almost as deep as that 

* See his two addresses On the Origin and Genealogy of the Human Race, Berlin, 
1S68, and his Natural History of Creation, Berlin, 1868. 



WHAT ARE WE ? 1 57 

between the Gorilla and the Orang. But this does not furnish 
the least evidence against the well-founded supposition that 
the most ancient Catarrhine, (or narrow-nosed,) form developed 
from the Prosimiae was the common primitive stock of all the 
the rest of the Catarrhini, including man. It was only a single 
branch of the multifarious group of the Catarrhini, a branch 
long since extinct and still unknown to us, that under favorable 
circumstances became transformed, by means of natural selec- 
tion, into the primary progenitor of the human race. At any 
rate this process of metamorphosis was of very long duration, 
and the fossil apes have hitherto revealed to us neither its time 
nor its locality. In all probability, however, it occurred in 
Southern Asia, which is indicated by so many signs as the 
common primeval home of the different species of man. Per- 
haps it was not Southern Asia itself, but a continent situated to 
the south of it which afterwards sank beneath the surface of the 
Indian ocean, that was the cradle of humanity. The epoch at 
which the transformation of the most man-like apes into the 
most ape-like men took place was probably the last section of 
the true Tertiary period, the so-called Pliocene epoch, or per- 
haps even the preceding Miocene epoch. 

Hence we must expect the discovery of the fossilized remains 
or bones of the ape-like ancestors of the human race, (if any 
such still exist,) in the Tertiary formations of Southern Asia, 
whilst it is regarded by Haeckel as a matter of absolute cer- 
tainty, that no existing species of ape can be the progenitor 
of man. 

The first step in the production of man, the immediate 
transitional form from the most man-like apes to man and the 
common stock-form of all the species of man, was, according 
to Haeckel, the supposititious, (and long since extinct,) crea- 
ture which he names the primitive or ape-man, (Homo primi- 
genius, Pithecanthropus, Alalus. ) This was produced from the 



158 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

Anthropoid apes by complete habituation to an erect gait, and 
the stronger differentiation thus caused between the extremities 
by the development of the fore-limb into the true hand, and of 
the hind-limb into the true foot. He was still destitute of the es- 
sential characteristic of the true man, namely, articulate speech, 
and the conscious thought which is associated with it. There are 
many reasons, according to Haeckel, which justify us in sup- 
posing that this primitive man must have been a woolly- 
haired, prognathous, long-headed being, of a dark brown or 
blackish color The hairy covering of his body may have 
been stronger and thicker than in any other species of Man ; 
his arms were probably longer and stronger in proportion, and 
his legs shorter and thinner, with undeveloped calves. His 
gait would be half erect, with inbent knees. His home may 
have been southern Asia or eastern Africa, or perhaps a con- 
tinent now submerged. 

From this primitive man, by natural selection in the struggle 
for existence, there was developed as a last and topmost branch, 
the true or speaking Man, (Homo,) distinguished from his 
predecessor, by many advantages, but .chiefly by the greater 
differentiation or better development of the limbs, the larynx 
and the cerebrum, and by the possession of articulate speech. 
It is probable, however, that the corporeal changes were com- 
pleted long before the production of an articulate language, 
"and that the human species with its erect gait, and the 
peculiar form of body superinduced thereby, existed before the 
true development of human speech, therewith the second and 
more important part of the production, of man, was completed." 

This last process, the production of articulate language, in 
combination with the higher development or perfection of the 
larynx, which again must have been accompanied by a corres- 
ponding improvement in the brain, probably did not take place 
until a period when the speechless primitive man had already 



WHAT ARE WE? 159 

become divided or sub-divided into a number of species or sub- 
species. For, according to Haeckel, the various languages 
show so great a difference among themselves that it is impossi- 
ble to believe that they could have had a common origin, and 
we must therefore assume the existence of as many primitive 
languages as there are families of languages. Hence the sub- 
division of the primitive man into the various species of man 
must have occurred before the time of the origin of language. 
"Nevertheless, even these must converge at their origin at a 
higher or lower point, and therefore all must finally be derivable 
from a common primitive stock." 

In all probability, according to Haeckel, this process of the 
formation of species of man from the primitive stock took place 
in the following manner. In the first place, there were devel- 
oped from the speechless primitive . man a number of different 
species long since extinct and quite unknown to us, of which 
the two most divergent prevailed over the rest in the struggle 
for existence, and in their turn became the stock-forms of all 
other human species. These constituted a woolly-haired and a 
smooth-haired species. The woolly-haired species spread es- 
pecially to the south of the equator, whilst the smooth-haired 
branch turned towards the north, and in the first place peopled 
Asia. A portion of it may have been driven towards Australia. 
Perhaps the existing Papuans and Hottentots are remains of 
the first, and the Alfurus and a part of the Malays of the second 
stock. However, the descendants of the woolly-haired stock, 
(the Papuans or Negritos, the Hottentots, the Negroes, Tas- 
manians, etc.,) have remained at a much lower stage than most 
of the descendants of the smooth-haired stock, to which, ac- 
cording to Haeckel, we must refer the Australians, the Malays, 
the Mongols, the Americans, etc., but above all the white or 
Caucasian race of man. ' ' This species, ' ' he says, ' ' has be- 
come more highly and beautifully developed than any other, 
chiefly by adaptation to the favorable conditions of existence 



l6o MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

presented by Europe, with its temperate climate and exceed- 
ingly advantageous geographical conformation. " In Haeckel' s 
opinion this species was produced in southern Asia from a 
branch of the Malayan and Polynesian species, or perhaps from 
a ramification of the Mongolian. From southern Asia the 
white man has spread westwards and become diffused over 
western Asia, northern Africa and the whole of Europe. His 
skull is most frequently of an oval form and holds a middle 
place between the long- and short-headed types, — the two 
extremes and rudest forms of cranial structure. This species, 
however, is considered to have divided at a very early period 
into two divergent branches, — namely, the Semitic stock, 
which spread in the south, and from which originated the 
Jews, Arabs, Phoenicians, Abyssinians, etc. ; and the Indo- 
Germanic stock, which migrated more towards the west and 
north and gave origin to the most highly developed civilized 
races, the Hindoos, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Germans, 
Sclaves, etc.* The white or Caucasian species of man is 
destined to hold the sovereignty of the earth, whilst the in- 
ferior races, such as the Americans, Australians, Alfurus, 
Hottentots, etc., are advancing with gigantic strides to their 
destruction. On the contrary it is to be expected that the 
three other species of man, namely, the Ethiopian in Central 
Africa, the so-called Arctic or Polar man in the polar regions 
and the Mongolian man in Asia, will still for a long time be 
successful in the struggle for existence with the Caucasian 
species, because they are better adapted than the latter to the 
peculiar conditions and especially to the climate of their native 
countries ! 

* The Semitic form of language is so essentially different from the Aryan or 
Indo-Germanic, that we cannot believe in their having had a common origin, al- 
though, anthropologically, the two stocks approach each other so nearly. From this 
we must conclude, either that the descendants of the same ancestors, when geo- 
graphically separated, developed among themselves totally different languages, or 
that they were separated before they possessed any language at all ! 



WHAT ARE WE? l6l 

Haeckel's theory, of which we have here given the principal 
outlines, consequently to a certain extent combines the views 
of the polygenists and monogenists. Thus it assumes the ex- 
istence of a number of species or races of men very early sepa- 
rated from one another and sharply defined, (especially from a 
linguistic point of view,) but at the same time regards all these 
only as branches or offshoots of a single primitive stock -form 
which became extinct at a very ancient period. A perfectly 
analogous position is taken by Georges Pouchet, although in 
other respects he is one of the most decided adherents and de- 
fenders of polygenism. In his thoughtful book on the Plurality 
of Human Races, (Paris, 1864, second edition,) he says : — " In 
the night of time there existed a certain species, less perfect 
than the most imperfect man, and itself ascending by a certain 
number of intermediate species the nature of which it is im- 
possible for us at present to suspect, to that primordial Verte- 
brate which we assume. This species, a mere rough sketch of 
what man now is, gave birth, after the lapse of a considerable 
time, to several other species, the parallel and unequal evolu- 
tion of which, in accordance with what we have said of animals, 
has nowadays for its contemporary, (but not its final,) expres- 
sion the different human species commonly designated as races. 
Thus the whole of humanity would be related, if we may be 
permitted to use this expression, not in the serial direction, as 
the monogenists suppose, but in a collateral direction, and in a 
degree which we are unable to determine ; the prognathous 
races having probably deviated less from the antecedent type, 
whilst the others are further removed from this type and more 
perfect. ' ' 

The diversity of opinion here indicated as existing in ob- 
servers who are perfectly in unison upon the main question 
itself, and especially the opinion of a decided polygenist just 
cited, show, at any rate, that, as has already been stated, the 
question of the unity or plurality of the human race and its 



162 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

origin has lost the greater part of its former importance, having 
found its solution in the higher unity of the general theory of 
descendence. Whether the humanizing of the animal has 
taken place once or several times, at a single definite place or 
at several places, simultaneously or at different times, in the 
Pliocene, Miocene or Eocene period or even earlier, are sub- 
sidiary questions which have only a subordinate significance 
with regard to the main point. Perhaps science will never be 
able to give us any satisfactory information upon them, but 
even then she will be in no worse position with regard to these 
questions, than the adherents of the Biblical history of Creation 
when they are asked whether Adam and Eve were or were not 
provided with a navel.* With regard to the precise manner 
of production of a more man-like creature from an ape-like 
Mammal we can as yet of course only raise general supposi- 
tions and hypotheses, to which, however, we may hope that 
future investigations and discoveries will some day furnish a 
more solid base, As Rolle says, (Der Mensch, etc. , Frankfurt 
a. M., 1866:) " It is a justifiable hypothesis, that certain con- 
ditions of existence may in some way have mitigated the com- 
mencement of that retrograde metamorphosis of body and 
mind leading back towards the bestial form, which attacks the 
existing large apes at the period of the second dentition, and 
thus have given to the antediluvian anthropoids a character, the 

* This oft-repeated question is generally treated as only a jest and like the simi- 
lar one : Which existed first, the egg or the hen ? And yet, as soon as Adam 
and Eve are regarded as another designation for the first human beings generally, 
there is in it the deepest wisdom and the whole mystery of the origin of man. 
Every placental animal (including man) that is born living from a mother's womb 
bears externally the distinct sign of its former physical connexion with the mater- 
nal organism in the form of a navel ; and the absence of this would signify a sub- 
stantial creation not dependent on parents. Scientifically such a thing is impos- 
sible or inconceivable. Hence the first human beings also must have borne this 
sign of their natural origin ; and from this simple consideration the logical neces- 
sity of the whole descendence-theory follows. It also follows from the relation of 
hen and egg ; for no hen can be produced without an egg, and no egg without a 
hen. Hence each of them can only be the last result of a long preceding transmu- 
tation of forms and ultimately of a spontaneous origination of the first and sim- 
plest element of organic form ! 



WHAT ARE WE ? 1 63 

human expression of which still strikes us in the little round- 
headed monkeys of South America." This conjecture is evi- 
dently founded upon the well-known observation that the 
young of most animals, but especially of the large apes, display 
a comparatively better and less animal development both of 
their corporeal and intellectual qualities, and particularly a 
better conformation of the skull, than the adults, and that this 
advantage, the effects of which have even been observed in 
negro children, is only lost at the commencement of perfect 
maturity, when the rude nature of the animal, (or of the savage 
man,) acquires its full force. This observation is remarkably in 
accordance with the fact recently disclosed by Welcker, Vogt 
and others, that the young ape comes into the world with a 
brain of much greater size in comparison with that which it is 
subsequently to attain than that of man, whilst the human child, 
by a great advance during the first period of life, quickly ap- 
proaches the goal which it is ultimately destined to attain. 
Hence the infant ape brings with him into the world the foun- . 
dation of a higher development, which, however, becomes 
abortive in the further course of his simian existence, but which 
in one or more of the Anthropoid apes of antediluvian times 
may nevertheless have been capable of becoming developed 
into human characters. This development may have taken 
place equally well, (in accordance with the Darwinian theory,) 
either very gradually by the influence of natural selection and 
the processes associated with it, or more suddenly by the birth 
in one place or another of an individual variety or aberrant 
form characterized by the peculiarly favorable development of 
some important parts or characters, (such as the size and capa- 
bility of evolution of the brain,) which by the help of this 
quality triumphed over its competitors in the struggle for ex- 
istence. Similar phenomena, which, according to Owen, can 
properly only be reckoned amongst those of the formation of 
monsters, (abnormal productions with a monstrous or excessive 



164 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

development of particular parts,) have been often enough ob- 
served in both the animal and vegetable kingdoms. That such 
a process as this, so far as it relates to man, is no longer ob- 
servable, need not surprise us, because, as has already frequently 
been remarked, the existing species of apes can only be regarded 
as being more or less nearly related to man, but by no means 
connected with him by a direct: genealogical tie. In fact the 
living Anthropoid apes can only be considered the terminal 
members of a distinct vital branch which is already in course of 
extinction and therefore has for the most part lost its former 
vitality and reproductive power. The close and powerful com- 
petition of man, which has been acting incessantly during so 
many thousand years, must of itself cause the retrogression and 
final disappearance of this lateral branch of the great stock of 
the Discoplacentalia. Thus man himself, with every step he 
takes forward on the great ladder of progress and civilization, 
breaks down behind him a portion of the bridge which formerly 
united him with the animal world. Widely separated from all 
other creatures he feels himself to be the ruler of the world, and 
in his pride forgets that his first cradle, like that of the founder 
of Christianity, stood in a stable or in a still humbler place. 
Nevertheless, or perhaps for this very reason, there can scarcely 
be a better means of recognizing our own nature or the true 
position of man in Nature, than the careful study of those of 
our animal cousins and relations which had the misfortune, (or 
the happiness,) to strike into a path of progress which leads 
their race to its destruction after a comparatively short period of 
existence. And in this study nothing surprises us more than 
the wonderful traits of far-reaching intelligence and extraordi- 
nary habituation to human circumstances and wants that we 
meet with in these animals, and especially in their young. 
With it disappears, at least partially, that feeling of disgust and 
repugnance with which, -(unjustifiable as it is from a scientific 
point of view,) we have hitherto been in the habit of regarding 



WHAT ARE WE? 165 

these creatures, — casting them from us, as it were, as carica- 
tures or distorted pictures of ourselves. This feeling, which 
originated in a period of ignorance, and was nourished by false 
philosophical theories having no foundation in a true knowl- 
edge of nature, resembles that sentiment which impels savage 
tribes to regard their near relatives with greater repugnance 
and hatred than their white enemies and oppressors, or so 
frequently produces a fiercer enmity between the nearest blood- 
relations than between perfect strangers. We look at a Lion 
with admiration, nay, with a certain sentiment of respect, and 
regard him as the king of beasts, although in this respecl; he 
stands far below the Ape, who, even if he were not our nearest 
animal relation, would still have a much greater claim than 
any other animal to our sympathy and interest on account of 
his intelligence, his docility, his address, his pathetic attach- 
ments, his approach to humanity in form and behavior, etc. 
The reports and narrations of trustworthy travellers and ob- 
servers, which prove this, are innumerable, and quite lately 
the celebrated traveller and naturalist A. R. Wallace has pub- 
lished an extremely interesting and instructive account of a 
young Orang, which he had the opportunity of observing very 
closely.* 

Indeed it is sufficiently well-known, that the intellectual life 
of animals has hitherto been greatly underestimated or falsely 
interpreted, simply because our closet-philosophers always 
started, not from an impartial and unprejudiced observation 
and appreciation of nature, but from philosophical theories in 
which the true position both of man and animals was entirely 
misunderstood. But as soon as we began to strike into a new 
path it was seen that intellectually, morally and artistically the 
animal must be placed in a far higher position than was formerly 
supposed, and that the germs and first rudiments even of the 
highest intellectual faculties of man are existent and easily de- 

* See Appendix No. 30. 



166 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

monstrable in much lower regions.* The pre-eminence of man 
over the animal is therefore rather relative than absolute, that is 
to say it consists chiefly in the greater perfection and more 
advantageous development of those characters which he pos- 
sesses in common with animals, all the faculties of man being 
as it were prophetically foreshadowed in the animal world, but 
in him more highly developed by means of natural selection. 
On closer consideration all the supposed specific distinctive 
characters between man and animals fall away, and even those 
attributes of humanity which are regarded as most character- 
istic, such as the intellectual and moral qualities, the upright 
gait and free use of the hands, the human physiognomy and 
articulate language, social existence and religious feeling, etc., 
lose their value or become merely relative as soon as we have 
recourse to a thoroughgoing comparison founded upon facts. 
In this, however, we must not, as is usual, confine our attention 
to the most highly cultivated Europeans, but must also take 
into the account those types of man which approach most 
nearly to the animals, and which have had no opportunity of 

* If space would permit it would be easy for the author to support this assertion 
by innumerable proofs. But as this cannot be done he begs to refer the reader to 
the numerous recently published essays and observations upon this subject, as also 
to the dissertations upon it given by himself in previous works. The second volume 
of his Physiological Pictures, which is not yet published, will alsoa ntain an essay 
upon the mind of animals. In this essay it will be shown by numerous well au- 
thenticated examples and facts, that the intellectual activities faculties, feelings 
and tendencies of man are foreshadowed in an almost incredible degree in the an- 
imal mind. Love, fidelity, gratitude, sense of duty, religious feeling, friendship, 
conscientiousness and the highest self-sacrifice, pity and the sense of justice or in- 
justice, as also pride, jealousy, hatred, malice, cunning, and desire of revenge are 
known to the animal, as well as reflection, prudence, the highest craft, precaution, 
care for the future, etc., — nay, even gormandizing, which is usually ascribed to 
man exclusively, exerts its sway also over the animal. Animals know and practice 
the fundamental laws, and arrangements of the state and of society, of slavery and 
caste, of domestic economy, education and sick-nursing ; they make the most 
wonderful structures in the way of houses, caves, nests, paths and dams ; they 
hold assemblies and public deliberations and even courts of justice upon offenders ; 
and by means of a complicated language of sounds, signs and gestures, they are 
able to concert their mutual action in the most accurate manner. In short the 
majority of mankind have no knowledge or even suspicion what sort of creature 
an animal is. 



WHAT ARE WE? 167 

raising themselves from the rude, primitive, natural state to the 
grade of the civilized man. 

In such a study as this, just as in the investigation of the 
animal mind, we at once arrive at the knowledge of quite 
different things from what the closet-philosophers in their pre- 
tentious but hollow wisdom have hitherto endeavored to make 
us believe, and we ascertain immediately that the human being 
in his deepest degradation or in his rudest primitive state ap- 
proaches the animal world so closely that we involuntary ask 
ourselves, where the true boundary line is to be drawn ? Who- 
ever then wishes to form a judgment as to the true nature of 
man or his true position in nature must not, as our philosophers 
and soidisant "great-thinkers" usually do,* leave out of con- 
sideration the primeval origin and developmental history of 
man, and looking merely at his own little self in the delusive 
mirror of self-esteem, abstract therefrom a pitiable portrait of a 
man after the philosophical pattern. He must on the contrary, 
grasp at nature itself with both hands and draw his knowledge 
from the innumerable springs which flow there in the richest 
abundance. 

Nowhere do we find these springs richer and more copious 
than in the reports of travellers in distant lands as to the savage 
men and tribes which they have met with, and especially in 
those simple narratives which often in a few words give us a 
deeper insight into human nature and its near relationship to 
the great outer world than the study of the thickest volumes 
produced by our closet-philosophers. All the definitions of 
these learned gentlemen, all their tenets and arguments, all the 
deductions from the so-called "highest principles of science" 
which they profess to have discovered, are broken by the force 

*They derive the name of "thinkers," like lucus a non lucendo, not from 
thinking but very frequently from not thinking, but are nevertheless arrogant 
enough to denounce those who disclose their threadbare nonsense, and are not 
satisfied with their empty verbiage, as " ignorant materialists." May all thinking 
men arise and chase these paid dealers in wisdom, these profaners of the temple, 
out of the sanctuary of true science 1 



168 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

of these simple facts, like soap-bubbles against the objects 
which they strike. There are men and tribes and conditions 
of human life upon the surface of the earth characterized by- 
such an absence of every thing that the cultivated European is 
accustomed to regard as the eternal and indispensable attribute 
of humanity, that in reading the accounts of them we are in- 
clined to think that we have fables rather than truth before us. 
Those who believe that the distinctive attribute of man is to be 
found in his moral sense, or in his higher intellectual activity, 
will find on forming a closer acquaintance with man and the 
conditions of human existence, that the facls are no more in 
favor of their views,* than of those who think to find the 
absolute pre-eminence of man over the animals in his family 
life and the establishment of marriage, f in his social organiza- 

* See Appendix No. 31. 

f Of the institution of marriage many of the savage tribes which have been 
depicted in Australia, Africa, Asia, &c, have as good as no conception ; and 
with them family life is at the lowest stage — nay, almost lower than with the 
beasts. Amo g the East-Africans there subsists, as Burton states, no attach- 
ment between father and child ; but, on the contrary, there prevails, after the 
time of childhood, a natural enmity between father and son, as among wild 
beasts. The children are sold, the wife is driven out of doors at pleasure. Sir 
S. W. Baker says : The Sudan negro knows not love ; the wife is only a domestic 
animal and a beast of burden ; polygamy prevails everywhere. Among the Aus- 
tralians, according to Duboc, it is only at the beginning that the mother concerns 
herself about her child ; afterwards the original connection is entirely forgotten. 
They, like most of the South-Sea Islanders, have no knowledge of genuine mar- 
riage, and hence have not even the idea of paternity. Hence among such tribes 
the heirs are often not the father's own children, but his sister's children. Nay, 
there is even a tribe, (the Wanyamwezi,) among whom the children born out of 
their so-called wedlock, the illegitimate, are made heirs, to the exclusion of the 
legitimate ! Similar facts, as Sir John Lubbock, (On the Primitive Condition 
of Mankind?) informs us, are found among the ancient Jews, Greeks and 
Romans ; while respect for woman has only very slowly made its way with the 
advance of civilization. According to the same author, many peoples, (for 
example the Egyptians, the Chinese, the Greeks, the Indians,) have even tradi- 
tions concerning the introductio?t of wedlock and tnarriage — which at any rate 
proves that the id: a of it cannot be innate and founded in human nature as such ! 

Finally, the most savage of the savages, the Dokos, the savages of Borneo, &c , 
have no notion whatever of marriage, wedlock or family, and live promiscuously 
with one another like the brutes. Indeed, as before mentioned, Otto Schmitz 
says of the Apaches, who are much superior to the Dokos, &c, that they know 
no marriacre, but only a longer or shorter co-habitation of the sexes, and that the 
children are very soon lost in the horde. 



WHAT ARE WE? 169 

tion,* in his sense of shame, fin his beliefin God,! m his posses- 
sion of the art of counting, § or in .the facts that he alone makes 
use of instruments, 1 1 and knows the use of fire and employs it 

* Even this is only a result of a certain degree of social development and among 
the wildest peoples is so imperfect that they run about pell-mell in troops or 
hordes, like wild beasts, without any chief or any other arrangements that might 
remind us of our own social condition. On the other hand, the principle of asso- 
ciation is developed to an almost incredible degree among many of the A?-ticulate 
animals. Think of the bees, zvasfls, termits and ants and their wonderful social 
economy, which is carried out so far that the last mentioned, according to the 
well-known observations of Huber and others, engage in set battles with each 
other, undertake plundering expeditions, bring home other ants as slaves and 
employ them in service, and keep in their extensive and well-managed social 
dwellings other animals as " milch-cows," &c. The termites or white ants have a 
perfectly organized state, with king, queen, workers, soldiers, servants, &c, and 
construct a building, ten and more feet high, with domes, towers, myriads of 
chambers, corridors, subterraneous passages, stone bridges and vaults, store rooms, 
&c, with which in strength and boldness, as well as judiciousness of arrange- 
ment, a human edifice can scarcely be compared. In its interior is situated a so- 
called royal residence, with chambers and galleries around for the attendants, 
and with special breeding-rooms and nurseries, and, lastly, a public place of 
assembly. To carry off the rain there are numerous gutters and tubes, with 
under-ground draining-channels. There is no doubt, also, that the termites have 
a language, by the help of which they mutually explain very detailed affairs. Not 
less remarkable are the celebrated dog-communities in the North American prai- 
ries, with regular semi-subterraneous cities which sometimes extend to a circum- 
ference of thirty English miles, and contain a hundred thousand inhabitants. 
According to the most credible assertions of eye-witnesses the prairie-dog fre- 
quently lives in his house together with a species of small owl and the rattle-snake 
— which strange social confederacy appears to be entered into for the sake of 
procuring food and of defence against danger. 

t The natives of Australia are destitute of all sense of shame and never think 
of covering: their pudenda. As G. Pouchet informs us, the Australians in the 
towns of the English colony, if not prevented by the police, would daily violate 
public decency after the manner of monkeys in a menagerie. '• The Australians," 
say Lesson and Garnot, (Annates des Sc ences JVatzerai/es, 1S67,) "have never felt 
the need of a woolen covering otherwise than to protect their chest ; no idea of 
shame has ever caused them to think of veiling their sexual parts." More or less 
the same is found in all savage or uneducated peoples, who in this point are quite 
like European children. Even highly civilized nations, (e. g. the Japanese,) have, 
as is as well known, quite different ideas of modesty from ours; and the highly 
cultivated nations of antiquity, the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Phi-nicians, &c, 
even consecrated in relation to sexual matters a lasciviousness of manners of 
which we can now scarcely form a conception. (For particulars see Rosenbaum's 
interesting pamphlet : Geschichte der Lustseuche.) The delicate consideration 
with which modern cust: m has regulated the mutual relations of the sexes and 
has covered them with a veil of sweet secrecy, is not any thing innate or original, 
but a consequence of the development which forms the history of civilization, the 
gradual raising of human nature above that of the brutes. Nevertheless, from 
time to time the old barbarism again breaks out with violence, either in isolated 
shocking outbreaks of the repressed or forcibly restrained impulses or in certain 
nudities or effronteries of society itself, tolerated though not sanctioned by cus- 
tom. As a rule, however, such in some measure morbid excrescences of society 
belong to an age that is dying out or already morally submerged, while they are 
almost banished by the breath of a new political or social spirit. 

% See Appendix No. 32. § See Appendix No. i>3- II See Appendix No. 34. 



170 MAN IN THE PA3T, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

for cooking his food,* that he alone wears clothing, f com- 
mits suicide,| cultivates the ground, § etc., etc. 

Articulate langicage may certainly be regarded as the most 
characteristic attribute of man, and by virtue of this, in connec- 
tion with the better development of the larynx, vocal organs 
and brain, and in association with his erecl; posture and the 
increased usefulness of the hands, he really first became a man ; 
yet it is only the result of a whole series of long-continued and 
tedious processes of development, and occurs among some 

* There are still peoples such as the Dokos, the Andamans, &c, who know not 
the use of fire and devour all their food raw. Moreover, that the use of fire 
cannot be an attribute of humanity as such is shown by the circumstance that so 
many peoples have been fire-worshippers, and in part are so still, that, therefore, 
they considered fire something extra- and supernatural. In like manner, when 
Magellan set fire to the huts of the Marian-Islanders, to whom fire was unknown, 
they looked upon it as a kind of living monster which devoured wood. Also in 
the Ladrone Islands the Spaniards found the natives unacquainted with the use 
of fire. Finally, there are sufficient traces from antiquity that in the oldest 
times the use of fire was still unknown, in the traditions of the Egyptians, 
Phoenicians, Persians, Chinese, Greeks, &c, about its introduction and the 
gradual spread of the knowledge of it. 

t See Appendix No. 35. 

% There is said to be a well authenticated case of the suicide of an ape. But 
even should this not be the case, sufficient instances are known of animals, 
(horses, dogs, &c.,) from excessive attachment to their dead or slain masters, 
refusing food and so killing themselves. On the other hand, self-slaughter is, 
from intrinsic moral reasons, exceedingly rare among children and savages. 

§ Although M. Rochet, (in the Bulletin of the Paris Anthropological Society,) 
has endeavored to establish that agriculture, as well as the mental and moral 
qualities and the above-mentioned characteristics, is a sign of the difference 
between man and beast, yet it is well known to be only the result of a pretty far 
advanced state of civilization, while the savage and primitive man lives merely 
on the spontaneous productions of nature and what he can get by hunting ; and 
from this condition he passes first through the pastoral to reach the agricultural 
stage. Besides, animals at times practise agriculture, as is proved by the example 
of the Agricultural avt in Texas, observed during ten years by Dr. Lincecum 
and described by him in the Journal of the Linnean Society, (quoted in the Aus- 
land, 1862, No. 10.) On ground with a stony substratum, they build a store- 
house in the soil and plant round it a sort of grass which bears a small white 
seed. This seed is gathered, dried and carried into the storehouse. After wet 
weather it is sometimes brought out, dried and sorted. 

This animal therefore stands in 07ie respect higher than the above-mentioned 
negroes of Kyischland, (Africa,) whom the traveller Baker, (t. c.,) desigrated as 
apes, who depend for subsistence solely on what nature produces, therefore neither 
sow nor plant, and consequently are frequently on the verge of starvation. 



WHAT ARE WE? iyi 

savage tribes in such a rude and imperfect condition that it can 
hardly be called language in the human sense of that word.* 
Formerly language was regarded as something innate and in- 
herent in man, existent, even at his first origin in a certain 
degree of development ; but the recent investigations of phi- 
lologists have taught us quite the contrary of this, and shown us 
that languages, like species, have grown up and been produced 
from simple beginnings by a slow and gradual process during 
the lapse of thousands of years. f Most certainly the zeal with 
which at the present day the savants of all countries study the 
important problem of the origin of language and propose their 
theories upon this difficult question, furnishes the best proof 
that they have escaped from the above mentioned prejudice. 
With an instinctive knowledge that language must have been 
developed in man gradually from the rudest commencements, 
they long for information as to the mode of this evolution and 
as to the first efforts of speaking man to give his thoughts and 
sentiments regular expression in connected speech. For un- 
doubtedly the earliest man was just as incapable of any such 
regular speech, as the animals and even some savage tribes at 
the present day. 

According to Westropp, {Origin of Laiignage^) the earliest 
man can only be regarded as a dumb or speechless creature, 
which only by degrees learnt to give definite expression to his 
feelings and necessities, just as children do nowadays, and a 
very long time must have elapsed during which man was able 
to express his wants only by gestures and inarticulate sounds. 
But in all this there is nothing more degrading than in the 
circumstance that we ourselves were once infants, "mewling 
and puking in the nurse's arms." Articulate speech is only a 
gradual acquisition which has risen by degrees from the rudest 
commencement to its present perfection ; like every thing else it 
has its beginning, its growth, its development, its progress, its 

*See Appendix No. 36. tSee Appendix No. 37. 



172 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

maturity and finally also its decline. Its development has been 
as much a necessity and as much in accordance with fixed laws, 
as that of the body and mind of man himself, and it first arose 
from those inarticulate sounds or cries of joy, pain, grief, pleas- 
ure, etc., which are also known to animals.* Everything else 
belongs at once to the grade of development. Now as regards 
the course of this development, it probably commenced only. 
by the formation of what may be called sounds of feeling, 
followed soon afterwards by imitative sounds, (onomatopoeia,) 
in which the sounds of external nature were imitated. These 
would increase the scanty treasury of words. Hence in all 
languages, numerous and different as they are, (the number on 
the whole earth is reckoned at about three thousand,) there is 
a considerable number of words of similar meaning and more 
or less similar in sound. Thus according to William Bell, {On 
the origin of language,') the word loh, for example, is a mono- 
syllabic root for the designation of light, fame, etc., which 
occurs in many languages and was originated from the simple 
exclamation : oh ! with an L or vibration of the tongue placed 
before it. For a long time language consisted only of such 
monosyllabic words, whilst by degrees the polysyllabic words 
were formed either by doubling the simple sounds, as in the 
words marmor, papa, purpur, etc. , or by what is called agghi- 
tiyialion. 

* The animal cry was, according to Clemence Royer, the first commencement 
of speech. There were different cries for the different sensations, as hate, love, 
terror, joy, anger, fear, &c. These tones or primitive sounds were the first roots 
of all languages; and to them the imitative sounds from external nature were 
afterwards joined. This tone- language is as much the property of the brute as 
of man; and, in the widest sense of the term, every animal has a language — 
that is a means of mutual understanding with his fellows, whether it be a 
cry or a song, a gesture or a look, &c. Longing, fear, hunger, love, &c, 
each of these sensations had its special expression with the brute ; verbal lan- 
guage only is peculiar to man ; but even this was at first merely a brutish 
stammering. 

The gap between our modern developed languages and this earliest primitive 
condition of language was filled by the whole long series of prehistoric peoples, 
with whom thousands of original forms of language may have become extinct. 
But even now our languages are still very imperfect, and this imperfection presents 
great obstacles to our minds and their mutual intelligence. Hence the fate of 
humanity hangs on the future perfecting of languages. 



WHAT ARE WE? 



173 



Examples of imitative sounds are the words ' ' baa ' ' for sheep, 
"moo" for cow and the like; or such words as "wind," 
"whist," "rash," etc. 

The simple exclamation also was imitated by companions, 
and thus gradually became a fixed sign representing the senti- 
ment or feeling expressed by it. Thus whist, the exclamation 
was at first only an involuntary accompaniment of .the sensation, 
it afterwards became independent of this, and from being an 
expression, was converted into a sign of feeling, which, instead 
of being called forth by the feeling, was rather fitted to call it 
forth. "The origin of the consciousness of the distinction 
between the sound and the sensation," says J. Bleek, "this 
establishment of the sound as a peculiar entity which being 
seized by the will is thus converted into its instrument, is the 
first foundation of humanity." — (On the origin of language, 
Weimar, 1868.) 

But as in most cases the life of the feelings is silent, and in 
general only a very small portion of it makes itself heard, it is 
easy to see with what tardiness and difficulty the reciprocal 
action between word and sensation must have produced the 
gradual rise of speech and of the consciousness which belongs 
to it. The first stage of mutual communication by word or 
speech therefore consisted, according to Bleek, in a person who 
experienced a certain condition of mind for which a word was 
known, uttering that word ; and the first phase of the existence 
of the word as such occurred, when the simple exclamation of 
feeling was not uttered as an exclamation, but employed volun- 
tarily in order to call forth the feeling associated with it or that 
supposed by the companions of the utterer to correspond to it. 
In the second phase the individual sound established itself by 
frequent employment as the conventional expression for the 
sentiment or feeling indicated by it, and gradually departed 
more and more from its primitive signification. At the 
same time the necessity of expressing mixed sentiments also 



174 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

produced mixed or composite sounds or words and mixtures 
of entire complex sounds. 

In the third and last stage of the first or initial period of the 
formation of speech, expressions were already formed in this 
manner by the combination of known words for a great number 
of mutual conditions unassociated with any emotional sounds, 
and which therefore were not expressible by words in the previ- 
ous stages. The reciprocal amalgamation of distinct and previ- 
ously separated sounds or words then carried on the formation 
of new words, which gradually departed more and more from 
the primitive expressions of mere emotional life, and gave rise 
to the further development of true language. This further 
development, as Bleek remarks, belongs to the history of 
language, rather than to the problem of its origin, the latter 
being already solved by the formation of words and their sepa- 
ration both in sound and sense from the primitive emotional 
sounds. 

The well-known zoologist, Dr. Gustav Jager, also essentially 
adopts this mode of explanation, but he looks at the question 
chiefly from the zoological point of view and endeavors to 
demonstrate a close connection- between the vocal utterances 
of man and animals. 

According to him this connection is so intimate, that it is 
impossible to elucidate the question of the origin of speech 
without a careful study of the language of animals. Speech in 
the widest sense of the word was discovered, according to Jager, 
long before there were any men ; for the pairing call, which is 
so general among animals, is a language. But still higher than 
this is the call produced from the pairing call by imitation, 
which is susceptible of various modifications, and capable of 
expressing both joy and terror, satisfaction and alarm. Beneath 
these is the simple emotional cry, which usually occurs in ani- 
mals only under the influence of strong emotions, such as fear 
of death, anger, great pain, etc. Many have the command 



WHAT ARE WE ? 175 

only of these two or three sounds, whilst others possess com- 
paratively a very rich language. The most complex is the 
language of Birds, which have very probably served as the 
preceptors of man. 

According to Jager, therefore, the primitive speech of the 
human race was merely a natural language, analogous to those 
of animals, and also analogous to the gesture-language of sav- 
ages, deaf-mutes and pantomimists ; whilst our present con- 
ventional languages rest solely upon a further development of 
the primitive natural language. 

But according to this author, the production of the true 
human language was preceded by an aphonic or dumb 
period "of receptivity, — just as the Apes, which approach 
man so closely, are remarkably voiceless, but very receptive 
or inquisitive, and many ages of the employment of a mere 
gesture-language may have elapsed before the speechless 
primitive man, (Haeckel's Alalus,) has brought his conceptions 
of the outer world so far that by means of the differentiation of 
the organs, which had taken place in the meanwhile, and under 
the influence of social progress, he was able to add sounds or 
words to his gestures. By custom, inheritance, etc., a lan- 
guage was then at last formed ; and this, in some favored races, 
became constantly enlarged with the growth of the idealistic 
power and the increasing stock of ideas caused thereby, whilst 
in other races it either remained stationary, or even entered 
upon a retrograde course. 

How impossible it is to establish an absolute separation be- 
tween the language of men and animals, is shown by the fact 
that so many of those general ideas which have become quite 
familiar to civilized nations by the richness and continued de- 
velopment of their speech, are so strange to many savage tribes 
that they do not even possess expressions for them. How then 
can we make it a reproach to the animal that he is destitute of 
certain other ideas expressing simpler relations, whilst even 



176 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

among men so great a difference is to be found in the develop- 
ment of ideas and language ? 

Writing, also, like language, arose quite gradually, and by 
the contemplation of external objects. Thus, according to 
d'Assier, (Histoire naturelle du Langage, Paris, 1868,) the 
first Chinese alphabet represented all ideas by definitive pic- 
tures. A large circle denoted the sun; a smaller one conveyed 
the idea of a star; a cross represented the moon. The earliest 
Chinese hieroglyphs also agree almost entirely with the Egyp- 
tian ; because the first sensuous perception of external nature 
was everywhere the same. The Peruvians represented the 
arrival of the Spaniards in America by means of a Swan swim- 
ming towards the shore and spitting forth fire, in which the 
color of the animal was intended to denote that of the strangers, 
its swimming body the ship, and its fire the guns of the 
Spaniards. From this sort of rebus or hieroglyphic writing, in 
which the idea of night, for example, is expressed by an owl 
or by a darkened cross, the transition to the true alphabet 
took place very slowly, and has indeed never been completely 
effected by many peoples, (such as the Chinese and Mexicans.) 
Between them there is the intermediate stage known as sylla- 
bism, so that hieroglyphics, sallabism and letters constitute the 
three successive stages of writing, the interchanges and inter- 
mixture of which are very easily recognized in the inscriptions 
and manuscripts of the Egyptians 

Thus we have shown by the evidence of well-informed men 
of science, and in part even by direct observation, that even the 
human speech, that most important attribute of man and of his 
humanity, that chief aid to his intellectual progress, that most 
striking distinction between man and the animals, is after all 
the product of gradual and slow development. We have seen 
that even this can only be regarded as a higher stage of develop- 
ment of aptitudes and faculties already existing in the animal 
world; and this being the case it seems to the author that the last 



WHAT ARE WE ? 177 

difficulty is removed which still stood in the way of the applica- 
tion of the great organic law of development and progress to 
man and of the admission of his animal origin. 

Thus then the light of science is broadly thrown upon a 
question which formerly seemed to mock all the efforts of 
investigators, and we have made the first step in an intellectual 
revolution destined to move the world in the direction of a 
philosophical realism. In consequence of this the position of 
man in nature and his relation to the world around him, in other 
words the response to the great question, "What are we?" 
will be conceived in a totally different spirit, and in one in- 
finitely more in accordance with truth and reality, than has 
hitherto been the case. There may still be some who, in the 
face of such a result as this, cannot break free from the prej- 
udices of the past ; and who would rather consider themselves 
the descendants of a lump of earth into which God in old time 
breathed the breath of life, than as the final produces of a 
natural process of organic development and progress. Such 
people may console themselves with the words of Claparede, 
who says: "It is better to be a perfeclionated ape, than a 
degenerate Adam," or with those of Bernhard Cotta, who ex- 
presses himself as follows in his Geologie der Gegenwart : 
' ' Our ancestors may certainly do us much honor. But it is 
much better when we do them honor. ' ' Lastly they may con- 
sider that human progress, which is desired by all, if regarded 
in the light of the theory of development, is in accordance with 
natural laws and therefore incessant and eternal, always sup- 
posing that man does not allow the powers and faculties con- 
ferred upon him by nature to lie fallow or become abortive, but 
makes full use of them for the constant amelioration of his 
condition and of his position with respecl; to nature, materially 
as well as intellectually, — physically as well as politically, socially 
and morally. 



178 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

To elucidate this progress and development of the future, at 
least in its broad outlines, and both in its natural and artificial 
relations in accordance with the indications of the past, will be 
the object of the third and last section of this book. It will as 
far as possible, set before us the future of man and of the human 
race, its physiological and moral prognosis ! "For," as J. Bleek 
says, "the course which we have already traversed, and the 
comparison of what we have attained with what we have left 
behind and started from, justifies us in forming the highest 
hopes with regard to what our race may possibly attain. ' ' 



END OF THE SECOND PART. 




SKELETON — MAN. 



SKELETON — GORILLA. 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 



THE FUTURE OF MAN AND OF THE HUMAN RACE. 

"The sovereignty of man consists in his conviction that there can be no higher 
purpose than that of humanity, in which the development of the earth is con- 
summated."— Radenhausen. 

"As long as the animal nature predominates in man, climate and local condi- 
tions will exert their influence unrestrictedly, and as in the vegetable and animal 
worlds, produce the greatest multiplicity of structures. But with the awakening 
of the intellect, an activity commences which strives to free man from the con- 
straint of nature in the same way in the most different countries, until at last in 
the highest stages of civilization, the better forms of human society not only ac- 
quire concordant customs in the matter of food, clothing, and habitations, but 
also, by a similarity of thought, feeling and endeavor, demonstrate that higher 
unity of the human nature which, although not present at the origin of our race, 
shines upon us as the brilliant goal of human development, which is a matter of 
more importance. "— Sch A affhausen. 

"For as soon as we have once clearly understood that individual life and ac- 
tion form only a small fragment of the great, eternal life of mankind, and that it 
is only by partaking in the latter that the individual man really lives, and as we 
may hope, lives forever, — striving for the general good no longer appears a duty 
hard of fulfilment, but a necessity of our nature which we are the less able to 
resist the more we have recognized the true essence of things. And in truth it 
is the sentiment of such a relation that is the great source of all noble and good 
efforts. Neither the fear of eternal damnation, nor the hope of individual hap- 
piness, can really serve as truly saving ideas to raise man to a higher existence, 
even when we leave out of consideration that each of these two fundamental 
doctrines of the vulgar dogmatism really places only a refined selfishness as the 
lever of its ethics."— J. Bleek. 



THE great mystery of the existence and origin of man, 
on which so many generations have in vain exhausted 
their strength, is, it seems to the author, solved by the state- 
ments with regard to the position of man in nature and his nat- 
ural relations to the universe, given in the first two sections of 
this book. What farther explanations can be required upon 
these subjects ? An insight into the process of the formation of 
man, into the natural how ? of his origin and development in 
the past as in the present, is all that we can rationally expect 

(181) 



1 82 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

from human science. For the question how ? or whence ? is the 
only one which, in accordance with the laws of cause and effect, 
we can expect to be answered by nature and the essence of 
things; whilst the why? is a foolish question, which goes far 
above us and never can be answered by us. If we were to ask 
why man is here, it would be equivalent to the question why all 
other things exist, why the Universe exists, why there is any 
existence at all ? That we can never expect a satisfactory an- 
swer to such questions as these is self-evident. Existence, 
whether individual or general, is simply a fact which we must 
accept as such, and at the same time admit that, as, both in ac- 
cordance with the laws of logic and from experience, it must be 
regarded as without beginning and without end, both in space 
and time, it is useless to talk about a definite cause for it, — 
about the why f of its being. 

It is, however, quite a different matter when we take the 
how? into consideration, and set before us the question of the 
manner in which the individual consecutive phenomena of 
nature and of existence are bound or held together in accord - 
ance with the inviolable laws of cause and effect. In this 
department, as we have said, modern science has furnished us 
with the grandest and most unexpected results, and has shown 
us that the whole great mystery of being, but especially that of 
organic existence, depends upon gradual evolution. In the 
process of evolution, so simple in itself, dwells the simple solu- 
tion of all those complicated mysteries which man has hitherto 
believed could not be solved without the aid of supernatural 
powers. To trace this process in its details and in all its phases 
both in time and space, and in this way gradually to acquire a 
more exact knowledge of those indestructible threads which 
unite man with nature and the totality of extra-human existence, 
is the task oi modern science. All appeals to supernatural 
or unnatural or even merely forced modes of explanation must 
in this case be most stringently rejected. Simple, natural sup- 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 183 

positions, in accordance with the known laws of nature or at all 
events not contradicting them, can alone claim acceptance, but 
these only until they are replaced by better ones, approxima- 
ting still more closely to the truth and the real state of the case. 
When no explanation is possible with the existing means of 
Science, the case must remain as an open one, requiring eluci- 
dation ; but it must not be covered up and concealed from the 
public eye by imaginary theories after the well-known and con- 
venient fashion of the speculative philosophers, or by the use 
of obscure terms which require an explanation of their own, or 
may even be incapable of interpretation. But as such explana- 
tions can only relate to the mode or to the simple proceeding 
of a later entity from an earlier one and to their casual connec- 
tion, and, as, moreover, with all our knowledge, we move 
constantly in a circle, in which the beginning and the end are 
nowhere or at every point, it becomes clear to us why we must 
be satisfied with these explanations of natural connection, and 
why the question as to a first or supreme cause of all being or 
as to the why? of existence is one which in a philosophical 
sense cannot be raised.* "Whatever is absolutely incapable 

* " The mystery of existence " as the author wrote years ago in a friend's album, 
" dwells in the figure of a circle. Without beginning, without end, and without 
cause, eternity can only revert into itself, and begins and ceases at every point of 
the immeasurable universe. But the human intellect, accustomed to see every- 
thing that exists pass before it in space and time, and in accordance with the laws 
of cause and effect, shrinks the more from this simple solution of the great world- 
mystery, the less it has freed itself from these barriers by reflection and knowledge." 

The speculative philosophers or metaphysicians indeed will be ju^t as averse to 
such a simple solution as the great mass of the ignorant, or of those who are cap- 
tive in theological bonds, because by it their whole striving after the discovery ( f 
supernatural causes of the world and of the order existing in it mustatonce.be 
wrecked, and their comfortable mode of philosophizing would immediately sink to 
the level of a useless clash of words in the eyes of every clear-thinking person. 

"It is easy to see," as James Hunt admirably says in connexion with this, "why 
so many philosophers still cling so strongly to philosophy in order to solve the 
problems of the world. The reason is that the method of philosophy in the treat- 
ment of all questions is so much easier than that of the direct observation of na- 
ture and careful accumulation of facts, which must be used systematically and 
patiently in drawing conclusions, that there will always be men who will prefer a 
philosophy founded on brilliant sophisms and fluent dialectics to the toils of a true 
scientific method." 



184 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

of comparison," says Buffon, "is also absolutely incompre- 
hensible ; we only know mutual relations. ' ' 

In connection with this generally recognized truth, the third 
or last of the great questions proposed by us, the question : 
where are we goi?ig ? can only be answered with regard to this 
earthly life, with respect to the earthly future and perfectibility 
of man. For even if we admit that it is due only to the limita- 
tion of our knowledge, or the imperfection of our means of 
knowledge, that the destiny of the individual man or of mankind 
beyond this earthly life must ever remain hidden from us, or 
that we can never attain a clear insight into the true essence of 
things,* even this admission would not do the least injury. 
Our efforts, (whether theoretical or practical,) can only be 
directed to that which we are able to grasp with our perceptions 
and judgment, and more than a thousand years of experience 
has taught us that our scientific knowledge constantly brings 
us into closer connection with nature and earthly existence the 
more it increases in depth and compass, whilst on the other 
hand it removes us in the same proportion from the spiritualistic 
hypotheses and chimeras of the past. 

The researches into the antiquity and origin of man and his 
normal connection with the organized world in general, which 
formed the subject of the first and second sections of this book, 
furnish the best proof in confirmation of the above assertion. 
Man did not come upon the earth spontaneously, but by the 
mediation of the same natural forces and causes to which all life 
owes its origin. He did not descend from above or from the 
ether, but he has sprung up from below by the same processes 
which lie at the foundation of all terrestrial development. In 
accordance with the present state of our knowledge, he can be 
regarded as nothing more than the last and highest product of 
that slow process of development and evolution by which our 
planet, the earth, in the course of enormous periods of time 

* See Appendix No. 38. 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 1 85 

completes its natural cycle of life, which in turn is only a single 
phase of eternity. What higher or more perfect structures 
than ourselves may still slumber in the womb of time, to come 
forth hereafter by the same process, we know not. But upon 
one point our science leaves no doubt, namely, that hitherto 
nothing higher or more perfect than man has been produced 
by Nature, and that it is not only the right, but the duty of man 
to regard himself as the ruler over all existences accessible to 
him, and to guide and change them as much as possible for his 
own necessities and purposes. 

It is easy to see that by this a perfectly new and previously 
unknown principle was introduced into nature and the world in 
general, a principle which is essentially distinct from any thing 
that preceded it. For it is only in man that the world becomes 
conscious to such a degree that it rises out of its previous 
dream-like natural existence and allows dominion over nature 
to take the place of a nearly involuntary subjection to it. 
Nevertheless this did not take place suddenly or all at once, 
but very gradually and only a long time after the birth of those 
creatures which we may regard as the earliest representatives of 
the human type, for only the gradual evolution and inheritance 
from generation to generation of the faculties awakened in 
those creatures by their more perfect organization could origin- 
ate that advance or continual improvement of mankind which 
we must at present regard as the final and highest object of all 
earthly existence. But whilst, in those earliest periods of his 
development, man was subjected to precisely the same natural 
laws or conditions as the forms of the vegetable and animal 
worlds which had preceded him in a long series of influences, 
whether injurious or beneficial, to which he could oppose but a 
feeble resistance, he has subsequently, in the lapse of time, by 
the further development of his mental faculties, emancipated 
himself more and more from those influences, and has finally 
attained a point at which he may say to himself with no little 



1 86 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. ' 

pride that his present and future fate has become more or less 
independent of nature, that is to say, it is in his own hands. 
Nature has, as it were, recognized herself in him, — has con- 
sciously advanced in opposition to herself, — and has thus 
undertaken a peculiar task, the fulfillment of which will remove 
both nature and man further and further from the rude and 
imperfect states of the past. 

By Darwin's admirable investigations we have been taught 
to recognize as the principal cause of the transmutation and 
evolution of the organic world in its natural state that struggle 
for existence, which has now become so celebrated, in combi- 
nation with the influences of variability, natural selection, inher- 
itance, &c. All these influences, (perhaps with the exception 
of inheritance), must act with the more intensity, the greater the 
power of nature over the organic being. This applies also to 
the momentum of migration, upon which much stress has lately 
been laid, and to the influence of alterafions in the external 
conditions of life, which Darwin, as is well-known, did not 
sufficiently estimate. For the less the individual being was 
able to resist these influences by intelligence or independency, 
or by the extreme simplicity of its conditions of existence, the 
more strongly must they have made their dominion over it 
felt. If the perfectly purposeless co-operation of all these 
causes, in themselves purely mechanical, has produced not 
merely a transmutation but at the same time a general advance 
in the organic world, so as finally to lead to the birth of a being 
destined to put its own spontaneity in the place of the mechan- 
ical forces of nature, this is due neither to any preconceived 
plan, nor to any personal merit, but it is merely the necessary 
consequence of definite natural conditions coinciding precisely 
in a particular manner and no other. Man has therefore no 
one to thank for his existence, and must seek the purpose of 
his existence only in himself and in his own welfare and that of 
his race. This welfare, however, is synonymous with the 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 187 

greatest possible emancipation from the influence of, and do- 
minion over those natural forces which originally called him 
and the whole organic world into existence.* If the struggle for 
existence be the vital phenomenon which most closely unites 
man with animality, then this must be strongest and fiercest in 
the primitive or natural state, and at first so occupy the whole of 
life that no opportunity is left for intellectual development, such 
as we now regard as the task of mankind. On the other hand, 
however, the unfavorable position of man in the natural state 
and his natural defencelessness face to face with the animal 
world, must have forced him all the more to the greatest pos- 
sible exertion of his mental and bodily powers in the struggle 
with the nature which hemmed him in and overpowered him, 
thus becoming a main incitement to human advance in the 
matters of weapons, dwellings, clothing, food, &c. The diffi- 
culty of the struggle also impelled him to mutual assistance and 

* Every answer to the question so often discussed as to the destiny of man or 
the purpose of his existence derived from points of view different from those here 
supported, appears absurd or untenable as soon as we confront it with the facts 
and with the results actually attained in life and history by the individual man or 
by the human race. Existence is everywhere and in every condition or moment 
of its happening its own object ! Man is here not to prepare himself (as the 
Theologian says) for a better world, or to inhabit and people the earth (as the 
teleologists will have it), or (as the philosophers suppose) to bring about a recon- 
ciliation between being and thinking, between God and the world,— but, simply, 
to be here /—One might add " and to be happy or comfortable here," if this pur- 
pose did not for the most part disappear under the mass of miseries and horrors 
which the struggle for existence and for the good things of the earth brings with 
it. The free spontaneity of man with reference to the general weal which may 
be attained in the future, will alone be able to raise him above this difficulty, and 
consequently to make him the creator of his own happiness. But until then let 
us give up amusing him with delusive phantasms of a something invisible or un- 
attainable to be striven for by him, and drawing him away by them from the care 
for his own weal and that of his race ! If, then, we wish to find the true destiny 
of man we must turn away from the general notion implied in the word " des- 
tiny," which always presupposed the unproven existence of a destinator, and seek 
the purpose of his existence in himself and in his relations to his surroundings, 
just in the same way that existence in general also cannot be conceived with ref- 
erence to any purpose lying outside it, but is merely existence for its own sake, 
and therefore at every moment fulfills its destiny or purpose, — that is to say, if we 
choose to make use of the essentially unphilosophical notion of destiny or purpose 
at all. 



1 88 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

social union, and this union again became a mainspring of 
progress. It was only when the struggle with the animal 
world had been brought to a successful issue, that the contests 
of man with man commenced, leading to those perpetual 
sanguinary wars which constitute the history of all tribes and 
nations in a backward state of civilization. 

But what more than any thing else assisted man in his strug- 
gle for existence, was the circumstance that the knowledge or 
experience gained by the individual did not die with him as in 
the case of animals, but by the agency of education and tradi- 
tion each successive generation was enabled to develop a 
greater power of resistance than its predecessor in its struggle 
for existence. This influence may have been very imperfect in 
its action in those earliest periods of humanity when man ap- 
proached most closely to the animals, and thus the advance 
during those periods may have been excessively difficult and 
slow (as indeed has already been indicated in the first section) ; 
but the conditions must have become more and more favorable 
the further man departed from his animal origin and brought 
into use the innumerable aids of advancing civilization. 

In the present state of our knowledge there can be no doubt 
that corporeal peculiarities or advantages of organized beings 
(whether congenital or acquired during life) are inherited by 
their progeny, to which, when they are useful in the struggle 
for existence, they communicate an impulse towards a more 
perfect development. Experience leaves no doubt that this is the 
case also with intellectual peculiarities, advantages, &c. , in an 
equal, if not in a higher degree. The material reason for this 
may lie in the extraordinary delicacy and flexibility of the 
organ of intellectual activity, the brain, the gradual improve- 
ment of which, both in the animal and the human species, admits 
of no serious doubt. By means of this organ and by the aid 
of its activity man has easily compensated for all the disad- 
vantages of his bodily organization in comparison with ani- 



WHERE ARE WE GOING ? 189 

mals, and has gradually elevated himself to the position of the 
undisputed lord of creation. Even the powers of Nature he 
has conquered and forced into his service to such an extent, 
that in his case the original relations of Nature to the organ- 
ized being are exactly reversed. The struggle for existence 
itself, which was at first, as in the animals, almost entirely a 
struggle for the external conditions of existence, has become 
changed in its whole nature by the progress of the human intel- 
lect, — from the domain of mere material life, it has passed to 
the region of the mind, — to the political, social and scientific 
domain. At all events this is the case in the civilized nations, 
but it is true .that among savage tribes and on the more unfa- 
vorably situated parts of the earth's surface the struggle for 
mere existence still rages here and there in its rudest form. 

It is clear that man's independence of the determining influ- 
ences of external nature increases in proportion to the advance 
of civilization, and that therefore the transforming effecls of 
climate, soil, food, locality, &c, which make themselves felt so 
unrestrainedly by the world of animals and plants, must remain 
more or less without action upon the civilized man. And in 
fact we see how the civilized European or American by means 
of his improved arrangements and knowledge is enabled to 
maintain his existence under all latitudes and circumstances, 
and even to compete successfully in their own countries with 
the aboriginal tribes who may be regarded as best adapted to 
the localities and climate. All backward branches of the great 
human family will by degrees disappear with but few excep- 
tions under the pressure of civilized man, and we can even now 
easily foresee the time when a certain uniformity of culture and 
material conditions or a true cosmopolitism of civilized man will 
be diffused over the greater part of the inhabited and habitable 
part of our planet. Even those natural influences which act 
most determinately upon our race in the natural state, such as 
climate, nature of the soil, distribution of land and water, &c. , 



I90 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

have become to a certain and not inconsiderable extent service- 
able to civilized man ; whilst he has found such efficacious 
means of protection against those actions of nature which he 
cannot directly govern, that they are incapable of troubling 
him except in a very diminished degree.* It need scarcely be 
added that the dominion of man over the organic world of 
animals and plants is now so great and permanent that, as 
Alfred Wallace, Darwin's associate in his studies and opinions, 
has already well shown, f we may foresee a time, when there 
will only be cultivated plants and animals, and when human 
selection will have replaced natural selection everywhere except 
in the sea. 

From these points of view we must also answer the question 
which, since the promulgation of the Darwinian theory, has so 
frequently been raised, whether it is possible that in the future, 
other and higher races or branches of the great human family 
will be developed from those now existing, as might be expected 
from the example of the past. In the various attempts that 
have been made to answer this interesting question, which is of 
such importance in connection with the future of the human 
race, I there has been ample room for fancy and the rage for 

* On the great Pacific railroad, man now traverses in a few days, surrounded 
by all the conveniences of the highest luxury and without the least personal 
fatigue, the greatest breadth of the greatest continent of th. earth, rushing now 
over boundless prairies and now between the dreadful precipices of snow-capped 
mountains, which formerly kept thousands of unlucky wanderers for months on 
the road and cost them life and health. And at the same time he knows that at 
the moment of his departure his arrival at his destination which will take place 
a week later, has already been communicated there by means of the railway tele- 
graph, and has been made known in the local journals the day afterwards ! 

t On this subject see my Six Lectwes on the Darzuinian Theory, Leipzig, 1868. 

\ According to an English writer, J. W. Jackson, (see Anth?-opological Re- 
view, 1867,) the existing man in the view of the developmental theory is only the 
commencement of a new Zoological order or of the biped and bird-type of the 
Mammalia. He will, therefore hereafter, become more covered with hair or 
feathers, divide into different species and genera, and in his perfected state will 
only inhabit suns, of which the planets are merely the embryos. In his moral 
nature man is not the fulfillment of the Divine idea of manhood, but only a 
divine preparation for this. " There is method in this madness ! " 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? I9I 

hypothesis to make themselves felt, although as yet they have 
produced nothing tenable. If the question be conceived merely 
from the standpoint of the theory of evolution, this being ac- 
cepted as an incontestable natural law, we can scarcely find 
any but an affirmative answer for it. But, on the other hand, 
when we recognize the fact that the activity of man himself has 
introduced an entirely new order into the world of living beings 
and, partially at least, substituted rational spontaneity for the 
blind force of nature, we shall be inclined to doubt whether 
man in his present condition can be regarded as unconditionally 
governed by the above-mentioned law or condition of things. 
The causes which in early times of the human race drove 
certain tribes or branches to quit their dwelling places for 
distant regions, where they sometimes subjugated the people 
living there and sometimes intermingled with them, in con- 
junction with their greater rudeness and the stronger influences 
of the forces of nature, may in those days have given many 
opportunities for the breaking off of new races or varieties of 
man, even though we can scarcely believe, (with Wallace,) in 
the primitive unity of the human race or assume that the many 
and great diversities of the human type are all mere ramifica- 
tions of a single fundamental stock, produced by the struggle 
for existence. On the contrary it has already been shown in 
the second part of this book, how many important reasons 
there are in favor of the opinion that, even at his first develop- 
ment from the world of animals, man made his appearance as a 
number of different species. These species may certainly have 
subsequently become extraordinarily multiplied and increased 
and may sometimes also have intermixed, but nevertheless we 
must not suppose that this process will continue without limit 
when opposed by the mighty and equalizing influences of 
civilization. It seems rather to be probable that under the 
influence of this momentum a reducing movement will be 
opposed to the differentiating one, thus tending to superinduce 



I92 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

a greater uniformity or similarity of mankind in all parts of the 
earth, and this by the destruction of the weaker and a constant 
increase of the stronger or more intelligent races. 

By all this the possibility of the formation of a new and higher 
race in some particularly favored locality and from a stock 
characterized by remarkable adaptability is by no means ex- 
cluded, but considering the equalizing tendencies of the present 
day and especially the rapidity of communication and the con- 
sequent diffusion of every advance in civilization, such a possi- 
bility does not seem probable. In the present aspect of the 
struggle for existence bodily influences or external influences 
in general come but little into the account, — the battle is now 
fought, as has previously been stated, chiefly upon intellectual 
and moral fields, and these now-a-days are readily and quickly 
equalized over the whole civilized surface of the earth. 

Thus, if what has just been said is correct, there is no great 
room to expect the formation of new and more highly endowed 
races of men, but nevertheless this need not impair the prospect 
of a progressive development of humanity and of the human 
race itself. The progress remains the same or becomes still 
more considerable, but the mode or the means by which it is 
attained are different. Whilst the struggle between peoples 
was formerly a contest of weapons, strength of body, courage 
and ferocity, it now consists in an emulation in good and useful 
arts, in discoveries, contrivances and sciences. The time is 
past in which one people subjugated another or exterminated 
it to take its place ; it is not by destruction but by peaceful 
competition that one can attain a superiority over the other. 
But by this means that uniformity of culture and that intermix- 
ture of races are brought about, which so powerfully oppose 
the separation of new species. The advancing development of 
the human race will not therefore in future occur solely or 
chiefly in particular races destined eventually to subject or 
displace the others, as has hitherto been the case, but it will 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 1 93 

constitute an uniform acquisition of the whole species. How 
far humanity itself will at the same time undergo development 
may be difficult to determine beforehand ; but, in harmony 
with the change in the nature of the struggle for existence, 
this development will certainly be rather intellectual than cor- 
poreal, or in other words it will advance pari passu with, a 
greater evolution of the tendencies and faculties now slumbering 
in the brain of man. For as man now-a-days carries on his 
struggle for existence chiefly by means of this organ, and this 
will be the case more and more hereafter, so the beneficial and 
propulsive consequences of this struggle will also be favorable 
to this organ and its activity, as indeed we know from ex- 
perience it has been in the past.* Even backward peoples or 
races when, favored by their small personal requirements, they 
come into competition with civilized man, (as in the case of the 
Chinese and Africans in America,) can only stand this com- 
petition permanently when they at the same time adopt all the 
existing aids of civilization and follow the same general course 
by which humanity is at present striving to reach its ideal of 
civilization. But by this means they also are carried away, 
perhaps unwillingly or at least unconsciously, by the general 
movement of civilization which has been set going by the more 
highly developed brain of the Europeans, and thus sink more 
or less as specially characterized races. 

So far it would appear that all the momenta which are con- 
nected with the progress and dissemination of civilization over 
the earth's surface are less in favor of the formation of new 
races of man, than of the diffusion of a more or less uniform 
type of high human culture, — and this would also be the issue 
of human development which, in accordance with the general 
principles of humanity and justice, must appear most desirable. 
The suppression of a lowly race or people by a higher or more 
powerful one has always produced such a mass of misery and 

*See Appendix No. 39. 



194 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

injustice, that the repetition of such a process can only evoke 
the most disagreeable sensations in every friend of humanity. 
In the present state of the human conscience such suppressions 
as this would appear to be doubly cruel and lamentable, even 
though the replacement of the inferior by a higher or better 
type must in itself be regarded as just. But inasmuch as this 
displacement or replacement may take place under present 
circumstances without acts of violence and merely by the irre- 
sistible power of conviction, the common and uniform progress 
of humanity has become a more probable course than that of 
the suppression of races. At present, indeed, mere example 
generally suffices among the civilized nations of the earth to 
render every progress, every improvement, every increase of 
knowledge common property ! 

Thus in the lapse of time and by the progress of civilization 
the struggle for the means of existence, such as we witness in 
all its unmitigated violence in the life of animals and in the 
lower stages of human development, has become rather a 
struggle for existence itself and a contention both of individuals 
and of peoples for the acquisition of the highest earthly benefits, 
in which we have to do less with mutual suppression, than with 
mutual competition or overreaching. 

It must not, however, be concluded from this that the 
struggle itself has therefore become weaker or easier. On the 
contrary it rages on the domain of morals, to which it has 
been transferred, as violently and inexorably, as it formerly 
did on the physical field. Moreover it has become more 
complicated and multifarious than the rude struggle with 
nature, as it no longer relates merely to the simple support of 
existence, but to a great number of advantages of political, 
social or material position which are united therewith. .On one 
hand this has produced the advantage that the struggle has 
called forth in man a whole series of impulses and faculties, 
which are scarcely, if at all, developed in the animal, and in 



WHERE ARE WE GOING.'' I95 

this way has become a principal cause of both general and 
individual progress, — whilst on the other hand it has given rise 
on the moral domain to horrors and barbarities without number, 
of just the same kind as those which formerly existed in phys- 
ical life.* In comparison with the mere struggle with nature, 
the social struggle of man has the further great disadvantage 
that the effects of the natural laws are more or less prejudiced 
by the will and the contrivances of man, and that in this case 
therefore it is by no means always the best, the strongest or 
the best fitted individual that may expect to be victorious over 
his competitors. On the contrary the rule is rather the sup- 
pression of individual intellectual greatness by the influence 
of family, position, race, wealth, &c. , in the interests of 
personal preferences. Nevertheless the impulse of human 
nature towards movement and progress is so considerable 
that it attains its object even under the most unfavorable 
circumstances ; but how much more would this be the case 
if these obstacles and inequalities were as far as possible re- 
moved, leaving a free stage, unaffected by injustice and oppres- 
sion, for the action of the natural law ! The struggle of man 

*In a social point of view, F. A. Lange (Die Arbeiterfrage, 1865,) has added to 
the struggle for existence the struggle for an advantageous position, the funda- 
mental law of which, however, is the same as that of the struggle for existence, 
inasmuch as the germs of the capacity and inclination for advantageous position 
are scattered through the masses, but destined in the great majority to be aborted. 
Take away or diminish the pressure which the struggle for existence opposes to 
the aspiring powers, and forms and performances of an advantageous kind shoot 
up in unexpected abundance ; whilst by an increased pressure the finest talents 
become aborted, and this with the heavy consciousness of abortion. It is nothing 
but a deeply rooted error to suppose that every talent or genius will work its way 
under any circumstances. We forget, especially in this to take into account the 
effect of higher position upon the development of the fundamental powers, and 
over-estimate the performances of those who are accidentally highly placed in ac- 
cordance with their value to the whole. This evil can only be operated against 
by lightening as much as possible the struggle for existence by means of such 
arrangements as will present space and the possibility of development to every 
aspiring talent, and prevent in future the weal of millions from being sacrificed 
to the glory of a few ! In the greatest possible equalization of the means by 
which the struggle for existence is fought out by each individual, lies the problem 
of the whole future of the human race ! 



I96 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

for existence is also far more full of suffering than that of the 
animal, inasmuch as man, whether as a class or an individual, 
generally feels the consequences of neglect, oppression or con- 
quest very heavily and painfully, whilst the animal only sees a 
blind natural destiny in his lot and bows before it unresistingly. 
This sentiment in man becomes especially painful when the 
general consciousness of the good or better is more or less in 
advance of the actually existing arrangements. It is in such a 
critical period that we now find ourselves, for there has probably 
never been a period in which there existed so great a dispro- 
portion between requirement and fulfillment, between idea 
and actuality, between thought and being, as at present. 

All arrangements in the state, in society, in the church, 
in education, in work, &c, in consequence of a most promi- 
nent law of inertia, have remained far behind what is re- 
quired by the general human consciousness, elevated as it is by 
scientific knowledge, reflection and material progress. If the 
forces opposed to progress had not so great and powerful a re- 
serve in the indolence and immobility of the great and ignorant 
masses, a very different state of things would long since have 
taken the place of that which has hitherto prevailed. 

In such a position of affairs as this there can be no greater or 
more elevating task for the philanthropist, than the investiga- 
tion of those points in which this disproportion makes itself 
most strongly felt, and in which the struggle for existence may 
be rendered easier and more advantageous both for the indi- 
vidual man and for mankind in general. These are at the same 
time the very points at which man is best able to show his 
dominion over the rude natural conditions, and thus to raise 
himself furthest above his lowly past. The farther he departs 
from the point of his animal origin and relationship and re- 
places the force of nature, which formerly exerted an unlimited 
influence over him, by his own free and rational spontaneity, the 
more does he become man in the true sense of the word, and 



WHERE ARE WE GOING ? I97 

the more dees he approach that goal which we must regard as 
the future of man and of the human race. But for this purpose 
it is above all things necessary for him to recognize that his 
natural destiny can never be attained by him so long as he, like 
the animals, feels only as an individual being and carries on his 
struggle for existence upon his own account alone, and guided 
by mere personal or egotistic motives. Man is a sociable or 
social being and can evidently attain his destiny, and conse- 
quently also happiness, only in conjunction with his like, or in 
other words, in the midst of human society. The individual is 
all that he can be only in and with humanity at large, or by its 
means, and his endeavors after personal happiness are therefore 
most intimately connected with the striving of mankind in gen- 
eral after prosperity and progress. 

This great and evident truth has unfortunately been too much 
misunderstood or overlooked hitherto. It is true that civil- 
ized man has long since overcome the rudest and most primi- 
tive form of the struggle for existence by means of regular 
political and social institutions, and invented a multitude o 
arrangements which are intended or adapted to protect individ- 
uals at least from the most injurious consequences of this con- 
test, and also to secure the possibility of existence to the weak 
and defenceless. Personal benevolence derived from the prin- 
ciples of general philanthropy also accomplishes much that 
serves to soften the hardships and terrors of the contest, or at 
all events to shelter those who are overcome in it from being 
pitilessly trodden down. But that this is the case is rather the 
result of chance than of necessity, and we cannot deny that the 
essential principles, upon which even now human society is 
founded, are still the old principles of the rough struggle with 
nature which have only acquired a milder form by their transfer 
to the moral or intellectual region. That these principles are 
not every where applied to their fullest extent, is due to the 
amelioration superinduced by the general goodness of human 



198 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

arrangements, and by the greater diffusion of the principles of 
humanity among mankind ; but as a general rule these prin- 
ciples only make themselves felt where the good or the interest 
of the individual as such is not in question, whilst, wherever 
this is the case, social egotism has no bounds and recoils before 
no deeds. Even now-a-days those who are stronger, richer, 
more highly placed in society, or more knowing than the rest, 
exercise an almost undisputed dominion over the weak, the 
ignorant and the lowly, and think it quite proper to exert their 
powers to the utmost in their own interests. 

In such a state of things the collective body cannot well feel 
as such ; it must perceive that it is better that all should strive 
with united forces and mutual support towards the same goal, 
towards liberation from the trammels of the forces of nature, 
than that the best powers should destroy each other by mutual 
contests. Competition, which in itself is so beneficial, may and 
will continue, but it must be transformed from the old and rude 
form of contest and destruction in the struggle for existence 
into the nobler and essentially human form of competition for 
the highest general well-being. In other words the struggle for 
the means of existence will be replaced by the struggle for ex- 
istence, man by humanity at large, mutual conflict by universal 
harmony, personal misfortune by general happiness, and general 
hatred by universal love ! With every step in this path man 
will depart more and more widely from his past animal con- 
dition, from his subjugation to the forces of nature and their 
inexorable laws, and approach more and more to the ideal of 
human development. On this course he will find again that 
Paradise, the ideal of which floated before the fancy of the most 
ancient nations, and which, according to tradition, was lost by 
the sin of the first man. The only difference will be that this 
Paradise of the future will be not imaginary but real, that it will 
come not at the beginning but at the close of our development, 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 199 

and that it will not be the gift of a Deity, but the result of the 
labors and merits of man and of the human intellect. 

After having established the general principles from which, 
in accordance with the materialistic or naturalistic conception 
of the Universe, we must regard and predict the future develop- 
ment of man and of the human race, we have now to apply the 
general views thus obtained to particulars, and enquire how the 
different forms of human thought and sociality will have to be 
moulded in future in accordance with these principles. 



GOVERNMENT. 



THE purpose of government is the attainment of the greatest 
possible welfare for all. As this is conceivable only under 
the existence of the greatest possible freedom for all, the free 
spontaneity of all nations and the legal equality of every citizen 
of a state must be the highest principles of every constitution of 
the future. That this requirement a priori excludes every 
monarchical or hierarchical principle is a matter of course. In a 
political relation no one should be the subject or the lord of 
another ! The introduction of a republican form of Govern- 
ment in the civilized states of Europe, America, &c. , can there- 
fore only be regarded as a question of time. The existing 
monarchies are nothing more than the remains of the former 
feudal state and of the military conquests of past times, or 
perishing ruins of a period when, in politics, man only recog- 
nized the relations of Lord and Subjecf, of conqueror and 
conquered. The sentiment of the present day is agitated to 
its inmost depths by the thought that one should be the ruler 
or to a certain extent the possessor of many, or that many 
should be the subjects of a single individual, and this condition 
would long since have been got rid of if the upholders of the 
old system could not calculate upon the support of the inert 
and indolent masses, who have been so long accustomed to 
obedience, in opposition to the knowledge of the more culti- 
vated classes, and if a certain dread of change and of the 
uncertainty of the future were not more powerful even among 
a section of the latter than their insight into better things. 

(200) 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 201 

The defenders of such a state of affairs usually assert that the 
people are not ripe for a republican form of government ; but 
in this they apply an idea, good in itself, to a false argument, 
as even the best-formed fruit will never attain maturity in the 
absence of the vital conditions necessary for it, such as air, 
light, heat and nourishment. But for the maturation of free- 
dom, the best agent is freedom itself. A man wmose limbs are 
tied will never learn to move .reely, whilst wh ^n he is allowed 
to make free use of them he may perhaps fall once or twice but 
will always stand up again. 

Moreover political freedom is in itself a thing so simple and 
easy of comprehension that even some of the most ancient 
civilized nations, and amongst these such as were most noted 
for intellectuality, possessed it to a very considerable extent ; 
and it would truly be a remarkable circumstance if men at their 
present stage of culture are not ripe for a state for which their 
civilized predecessors were well-prepared thousands of years 
ago. If we are to wait until, under the pressure of a mo- 
narchical form of government all men without exception shall 
pronounce in favor of a change to the republican form from 
their own judgment and conviction, we may probably wait for 
ever. But in all' times the better understanding of the few has 
outstripped the want of intelligence of the many and formed 
the leaders of the ignorant masses to the greatest revolutions. 
This will be the case also in the politics of the future, and the 
more inasmuch as the example of grandest political develop- 
ment known in history is extant in the present day under a 
republican form of Government. It is quite inconceivable that 
the United States of America could ever have taken that un- 
exampled flight of political and material development that it 
actually has taken, under a monarchical form of Government, 
however much there may be to blame in their political manage- 
ment. 

Many, indeed, reply, and with justice, that in politics less 



202 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.. 

depends on the/orm than on the substance, and that, as history- 
proves, men may live with much less freedom under a repub- 
lican form of government, than under some others. But the 
misuse of a thing does not justify the heaping of blame upon it, 
and if a monarchy leaves the liberty of the subject unmolested, 
this is more or less a matter of accident or good will ; whilst 
if freedom suffers in a republic, the mass of the citizens are 
themselves to blame, but are at the same time in a position to 
correct their errors. But even if all these advantages did not 
exist, the mere pride of the freeborn and freethinking man must 
reject with indignation every thought of personal subordination 
in a political point of view, and put in for himself a claim to the 
right of free spontaneity and to the benefit of legal equality. 

Among the republicans of the present day there exists a 
rather profound diversity of opinion as to the comparative 
advantages of federalism and centralism — of a confederate or 
united republic. The latter, being the simpler and more 
natural, would probably not have met with so many opponents 
if the minds of politicians had not been unnecessarily prejudiced 
against its principles by the disagreeable results which have 
been experienced in France from the excessive extension of 
centralization. On the other hand, the experience neither of 
Switzerland, nor of North America, (both federal republics,) 
is at all in favor of federalism, the consequence of which has 
been in the former the proverbial cantonish spirit and the 
Sonderbund war, and in the latter the great American civil war 
which spread so much misery and unhappiness over the great 
republic of the west. In federal republics we have to fear the 
breaking up and the self-will of the individual states ; whilst 
in the united republics the infringement of liberty by the central 
power, and an unnecessary subordination of political or local 
peculiarities under the general will, are to be dreaded. Both 
these difficulties, it seems to the author, may be easily got rid 
of by the combination of the principle of unity, which is essen- 



WHERE ARE WE GOING ? 203 

tial to good government with the widest possible extension of 
the autonomy or self-government of the communities. 

In the government of free communities, such as our German 
ancestors possessed, there is the surest foundation for the indi- 
vidual liberty of the citizen, and it is also adapted to allow free 
play to all justifiable peculiarities of particular races or districts 
without injury to the necessary unity of the entire state and its 
government. Even in the animal organism, which may furnish 
us with the best type of the organism of the state, each indi- 
vidual part, nay even every individual cell or cell-complex, 
possesses its own individuality, and yet by its activity con- 
tributes its full share to the existence of the whole. This 
wonderful interweaving of the life of the separate parts with 
that of the whole which is presented to our view by the animal 
organism, depends upon the same principle which is constantly 
becoming more and more predominant in our present political 
and social conditions, namely, the principle of the division of 
labor. We find that this principle is the more distinctly devel- 
oped, and that the activity of the different parts is the more 
thoroughly employed for the benefit of the whole organism, the 
higher we ascend in the animal kingdom, whilst, on the con- 
trary, in Plants and in the lowest animals, the different parts 
usually possess so much individuality that very commonly the 
whole organism may be divided into two or more independent 
organisms without any injury to life. This comparison may 
furnish us with the best possible indication of the direction in 
which our political development must ascend, and show us that 
the object of the political organism will be better attained the 
more we succeed in combining a high degree of division of 
labor, and the greatest possible independence of the individuals 
and communities forming the state, with the co-operation of all 
for the welfare and existence of the whole.* 

* See Appendix No. 40. 



NATIONALITIES. 

PRECISELY the same principle which we have found to be 
involved in the natural progress of the mutual relations 
of individuals, must also hereafter become the guiding principle 
in the intercourse of peoples and nations. In the place of a 
mutually destructive struggle, we shall have a competition in all 
useful things, and a more or less general endeavor to overcome 
the obstacles which stand in the way of human happiness. 
Even under present conditions this principle has already be- 
come so powerful and important, that our existing systems of 
government, which in their nature still depend entirely upon 
the old principles of mutual diplomatic and military enmity and 
suppression, have not quite succeeded in escaping its influence, 
and in modern times the endeavors of the individual states are 
unmistakably directed towards putting out of the way as much 
as possible all causes of warlike complications, and cultivating 
instead of these the arts of peace and the blessings of mutual 
good understanding. It is true that this state of things is only 
a provisional one, and one that may be upset at any moment by 
the desire of fame on the part of misguided sovereigns or the 
combatativeness of the enormous armies kept on foot by them. 
But as soon as we have left this stage of barbarism behind us, 
wars between different nations will hardly be posssible, as every 
one will see that every war carried on by one state against its 
neighbor is at the same time a war against itself and its own 
dearest interests. Moreover, all sufficient inducement to war 
will be wanting, as no one will think of subjugating or destroy- 
ing a justly independent people or nation for the benefit of 
another, and any disputes that may occur will easily be settled 
by an arbitration of nations or a national Areopagus. 

A chief difficulty in this mutual unification of peoples will 
consist in the definition and limitation of nationalities. Im- 

(201) 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 205 

portant as are the arguments that may be urged against the 
strict carrying out of what is called the Principle of Nationality 
(which at present forms the guiding spring of all political pop- 
ular movements,) it is and must be the only principle upon 
which a permanent and just separation of nations can be 
effected. Every people possessing in itself so much vitality, as 
to have developed in itself a language, literature and history of 
its own, and which cannot be regarded as a mere appendage of 
a larger race or a branch from such a race incapable of inde- 
pendent life, has a right to independent existence and must be 
protected and sustained therein. Doubtful cases and disputes 
as to the limitation of the different nationalities at those points 
where they are partially intermixed, will have to be submitted 
to the judgment of a well-informed and impartial national tri- 
bunal, always supposing that the parties interested are unable 
to come to a mutual understanding. And this at all events 
under such circumstances as are to be anticipated, will not 
be difficult, as in this case there will be no question of 
mutual oppression or forcible - extirpation of national pecu- 
liarities, but the only purpose in view will be the attain- 
ment of peaceable cohabitation. • That absurd national hatred 
of former times, which has produced so much mischief, has 
already really disappeared from the minds of the larger and 
more powerful civilized nations, to make room for a mutual 
esteem and for a general desire for peaceful relations or peace- 
ful competition, as for example, between the Germans and the 
French, the French and the English, the Germans and the 
Italians, &c. No doubt this sentiment will by degrees be 
diffused throughout the masses and render great national wars 
no longer possible. The immense and indeed incalculable gain 
that national well-being will derive from the cessation of those 
enormous and exhaustive military preparations which the 
European states still think necessary for their safety, is too well 
known and generally recognized to require special notice here. 



SOCIETY. 

FAR more important than any political or national reforms, 
is the reformation of Society in the direction of the view 
of civilizatory progress here described by us. For of what use 
to the individual are political liberties or the satisfaction of his 
national pride, of what advantage to him are theories of national 
prosperity, if the enjoyment of these things is embittered or 
rendered impossible to him by social oppression ? All political 
progress is and must remain a chimera so long as society feels 
itself uneasy and uncomfortable in its very heart, and the people 
will not attain to quietness and the cheerful enjoyment of their 
existence until political liberation has found its necessary com- 
plement in social freedom. In no department of human being 
has the struggle for existence raged more violently or left 
behind it deeper traces of its destructive action, than in the 
social field, since it passed from the natural to the intellectual 
field of action. Unfortunately by daily custom and constant 
familiarity our nerves have become so blunted to the presence 
of much misery that we seem scarcely any longer to notice the 
boundless inequalities and injustices which have been the con- 
sequences of the social struggle for existence, — we find the 
whole thing just as natural as the terrible and remorseless na- 
ture-struggle itself. But in this we forget the immense difference 
that exists between the natural law, which admits of no excep- 
tions and usually destroys its sacrifices quickly and without 
their ever coming to a consciousness of their condition, and the 
conscious struggle of man which is carried on under the pres- 

(206) 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 207 

sure of regulations and conditions which, being human, are ca- 
pable of improvement. It is true that the origin of these regu- 
lations and conditions is due to a historical development which 
presents a great similarity to the course of natural development, 
and which could only to a certain extent be influenced by the 
arbitrary action of man. But in proportion as mankind advance 
towards the height which they are destined to reach ; in propor- 
tion as they find themselves more and more in a position to 
replace the rude conditions of nature by free and rational spon- 
taneity, the more must the question press itself upon them 
whether the state of inequality and injustice which we see extend- 
ing almost without bounds through human society is necessary, 
or more or less accidental, and whether we are in a posi- 
tion to counteract the injurious consequences of this condition 
of things both to the individual and to the community by the 
arrangements of society itself. 

We have just seen that the great principles of liberty and 
equality are the determining and almost undisputed principles 
of the future from a political point of view, and we can by no 
means see why these same principles should not also be recog- 
nized as the determining principles of social progress. At pres- 
ent, indeed, there are very few men who see the necessity of 
social so clearly as that of political reform, and it is, in fact, 
among the most freethinking of politicians that we frequently 
find the most inveterate enemies of the endeavor after social 
improvement. Nevertheless, we shall hardly find any one to 
assert that oppression and plunder are not as bad socially as 
politically ; and no one will give a negative answer to the ques- 
tion whether any individual man, at the moment of his birth, 
does not bring with him into the world an equal claim upon the 
entire (material and intellectual) property of humanity, and es- 
pecially of his people or nation. On the other hand, no one 
will be any more inclined to deny that in reality and in the present 
state of society this claim is a horrible mockery. For one is 



208 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

born with the crown upon his head ; another rolls in countless 
gold even in his cradle ; another with his first breath may call 
his own a great part of that soil upon which we all are born, and 
which should justly be the common property of us all ; and 
another, before he begins to think, is destined to hold rank, 
riches, position, consideration, and lordship over his fellows ; 
whilst another comes naked and bare into the world like the 
beasts, and, like the "Son of Man," hath no place whereon to 
lay his head. The earth itself, which has produced him, re- 
gards him to a certain extent as an outcast, or as coming into 
the field too late, and he can only make good his right to his 
miserable existence by appropriating the forces bestowed upon 
him by nature (whether corporeal or intellectual) to the service 
of others. But even under this condition and when he volun- 
tarily sacrifices his life and health to this service, society usually 
prolongs his life only in the most miserable fashion, and leaves 
him, in the midst of a national prosperity never before realized, 
to suffer all the pangs of that mythical Tantalus who saw all 
sorts of food constantly before him, but which he could never 
reach. Boundless poverty side by side with boundless riches ; 
boundless power side by side with boundless weakness ; bound- 
less happiness side by side with boundless misery ; boundless 
slavery side by side with boundless will ; boundless excess side 
by side with boundless want ; fabulous knowledge side by side 
with fabulous ignorance ; the most strenuous labor side by side 
with careless enjoyment ; beautiful and glorious things side by 
side with the deepest depression of human existence, — such is 
the character of our existing society, which in the magnitude of 
these contrasts exceeds even the worst times of political op- 
pression and slavery. Daily we are forced to allow the most 
moving tragedies, arising from these contrasts, to pass before 
our eyes without being in a position to prevent their terrible 
recurrence, — constantly we are forced to confess to ourselves 
that daily and hourly men perish quickly or slowly by the want 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 209 

of the merest necessaries of life, whilst close beside them the 
more favorably placed section of society is swallowed up in 
excess and luxury, and the national welfare improves in an un- 
heard of manner. 

When we wander through our large towns or great industrial 
districts, we have, at almost every step, the opportunity of 
observing how the dens of want and misery are hidden behind 
the mansions of riches and happiness, — how in view of groan- 
ing tables and overloaded stomachs, hollow-eyed hunger may 
be seen bearing its pangs in silence, — and how, side by side 
with luxury and arrogance of all kinds, hopeless want creeps 
shyly and anxiously into the darkest corners, or sits in gloomy 
despair hatching deeds of horror. How often could the poor 
laborer rescue his starving children from the most terrible 
death by means of the crumbs which fall from the rich 
man's table and which even his dogs disdain ! and what the 
palled palate of the epicure rejects with disgust, would be a 
delicacy for him who eats only to satisfy his hunger ! Even 
intellectual food or intellectual enjoyment is so unequally dis- 
tributed that often the smallest portion of what is offered to 
those standing in good positions and perhaps rejected by them 
as quite contemptible, might suffice to make the happiness of 
the poor but longing mind or to guide it to better purposes. 
How much talent, how much genius may slumber in the masses 
who can never attain the circle of action suitable to them, but 
are constantly yoked to the plough of trivial avocations, 
whilst incapacity and weakness spread themselves out upon the 
seats of power and learning. How much hunger (intellectual 
or physical) could be satisfied without any trouble, if means 
and cultivation were more equally distributed ! How satisfied 
might every one be, either with food or with learning, if all 
were active, and so many had not to work for one or for 
a few ! * 

* See Appendix No. 41. 



2IO MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

It is, as we have said, the social struggle for existence, not 
yet regulated by the principles of reason and justice, that has 
gradually called forth all these inequalities and monstrosities of 
society. In this it has been most essentially supported by 
those innumerable political oppressions, acts of violence, rob- 
beries, conquests, &c. , with which the past history of nations 
is filled, and of which the mournful effects are still regarded by 
uninstructed reason as the necessary consequences of social 
movement. 

Thus the present state of society and the distribution of 
property in society is by no means, as many think, the mere 
consequence of a natural development, but of a concatenation of 
circumstances and causes, among which the legitimate gain and 
personal industry of the individual, important as they are, play 
on the whole only a secondary part. The place of the old po- 
litical violence has been taken by the rage of social oppression 
and plunder, which recognizes no other objecT: than that of be- 
coming rich and prosperous as quickly as possible at the 
expense of others, and for the attainment of this purpose leaves 
no means of mutual competition or overreaching untried. It is 
a matter of course that those who have been beaten in compe- 
tition, or have been overreached, endeavor to make good their 
loss by every means offered to them by cunning or power, 
although owing to the inequality of the contest they usually 
meet but little success in this. Of forbearance or pity there is 
no more in this social war, in which every one's hand is against 
his neighbor (at least as far as it is carried on between individ- 
uals,) than in the rude natural struggle already described. It 
is as it were a general flight or race of fear before the troubles 
and wants of life, in which the majority in their flight have 
scarcely a glance of pity, let alone a helping hand, to bestow 
upon those who are sinking to the ground beside them, and 
strike down those who stand in their way without hesitation. 
Unceasingly the stream roars onwards over those unfortunates 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 211 

who fall, and the universal war cry runs as follows : — Save him- 
self who can! succumb who must! 

There can be no doubt that this state of things must bring 
with it the greatest disadvantages to the nobler impulses and 
tendencies, or to the moral nature of man, and that it must 
cause a boundless egotism to be the main-spring of human 
affairs. Every deviation from the prescriptions laid down by 
social egotism avenges itself in the most grievous manner upon 
the individual, and compels him, if he will not be untrue to the 
cogent commands of the principle of self-preservation, immedi- 
ately to return into the beaten track. Even the most devoted 
philanthropist could not withdraw himself from these commands 
of social egotism, unless he is willing to find himself immedi- 
ately affected by the greatest personal disadvantages.* 

There will not be many men who will venture to dispute the 
above propositions, which are merely derived from daily ex- 
perience, or to deny the simple principle of natural justice, that 
all men at their birth bring with them into the world an equal 
right to all the (material or intellectual) possessions of man- 
kind existing at that moment. But after admitting these and 
similar truths, they will immediately add with a compassionate 
shrug, that there is no rational or available means of improving 
this state of things, — that there have always been riches and 
poverty, and that inequality of position and property, differ- 
ences of station, culture and the like, are necessary and indis- 
pensable attributes of human society, without which it could 
not subsist. To this they will add that if even now, in dis- 
regard of all existing rights which have been generally well- 
acquired, we were to undertake a general distribution of goods 
amongst all the living, the old inequality would very soon 
return. Lastly, they will picture in the liveliest colors the 
(real and imaginary) dangers of communism and then show 
that all attempts of this nature have failed most ignominiously 

* See Appendix No. 42. 



212 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

and must always fail on account of the weakness and in- 
sufficiency of human nature. The last statement certainly 
need not be admitted, and to the former ones we may reply as 
follows : That the existing egotism of human nature, which 
rules society, is principally the consequence of the egotistical 
state of human feeling and society, which has prevailed for 
many thousand years and hardened in the constant struggle 
for existence, and that a better guidance and education of the 
human mind, and especially of the spirit of Society in the 
direction of reciprocity and fraternity, would produce astonish- 
ingly different results. Further, that all the communistic 
attempts that have been made have not failed, and that, where 
they fell through, they were often destroyed rather by external 
than by internal difficulties.* And finally we may justly call 
attention to the fact that the advantages of a community of 
goods are extraordinarily great both economically and morally, f 
and that we may easily imagine a state of Society in which 
without any danger to the objects of Society itself or to the 
individuality of the persons composing it, J labor would acquire 
a perfectly unconstrained and spontaneous character, serving 
only the purposes of the community. But although all this 
may be urged against the opponents of communism, yet for 
the present and for a long time to come there is so little chance 
of any practical realization of such ideas or propositions, that 
all further reference to the subject seems superfluous. The 
general and quite insuperable aversion of men to all kinds of 
communistic propositions or systems is opposed to it, as also 
the still actually existing weakness and insufficiency of human 
nature itself, which can only be conducted to and rendered 

*See Appendix No. 43. + See Appendix No. 44. 

\ " Obliteration of individuality," is the watchword that our philosophers and 
political economists have given out against communistic systems of all kinds, 
although it is perfectly unjust, and although there are so many individualities 
whose obliteration would really be of no consequence. Moreover our present 
form of society, I think, does quite enough for the obliteration of individuality, 
and for th : production of a general personal insignificance. 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 21 3 

capable of better things by many years' education in the spirit 
of community and general philanthropy. 

We have nothing for it, therefore, but to look about for 
some other means which may serve, at least to some extent, 
to weaken the frightful contrasts and monstrosities of the 
present condition of society and thus gradually lead to a better 
state of things. Here again science, and especially natural 
science gives the right clue. For if, as has already been 
shown, the true task of humanity, or of human progress in 
opposition to the rude natural state, consists in the struggle 
against the struggle for existence, or in the replacement of the 
power of nature by the power of reason, it is clear that this object 
must above all be attained by the greatest possible equali- 
zation of the circumstances and means under which . and with 
which each individual has to fight out his struggle for existence, 
and to carry on the competition for the preservation of his life. 
Nature knows no such equalization, or admits it only in an 
exceedingly imperfect fashion, and the weaker or less favored 
party saves itself in Nature rather by evasion or flight from the 
stronger or from unfavorable influences, than by direct opposi- 
tion. Even in man this was formerly the case to a great extent, 
if we leave out of consideration the immediate natural influences 
which man opposed more or less directly by the aid of his 
power of reflection and knowledge. But just as he has suc- 
cessfully carried on this contest with the external world and 
still continues to fight it out victoriously, he must also fight out 
the much more difficult internal contest against his own animal 
nature, and, as we have said, put the law of reason in place of 
the law of nature. If in politics we have long since come to 
replace the old system of oppression and domination by the 
now generally recognized principle of equal rights and equal 
duties, we must likewise socially replace the system of mutual 
plunder, which has hitherto prevailed, by the principle of equal 
means or equal circumstances. What sort of combat would it be 



214 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

in which one of the combatants made bis appearance naked 
and armed with a wooden sword, whilst the other advanced to 
battle cased in steel from head to foot, and with sabres and 
guns? What sort of race would it be in which one of the 
runners had to trust only to the powers of his naked feet, 
whilst the other had the aid of all the means of locomotion 
which the progress of the arts had rendered possible? And 
what sort of competition for existence is that in which one 
party appears furnished with all those innumerable advantages 
which rank, riches, culture, position, &c. , are able to confer 
upon him, whilst the other has nothing to depend upon but 
the force of his naked arms or of his uncultivated understand- 
ing? — force which, moreover, has probably been checked in its 
development even in his earliest youth by bodily or spiritual 
destitution. Such a state of things cannot really deserve the 
name of a struggle or competition for existence, as its issue in 
by far the greater number of cases is decided beforehand, and the 
whole merely represents a state of permanent social' slavery 
sanctified by age, and inherited from generation to generation. 
Of course such a state greatly paralyzes the desire to struggle 
or the endeavor for personal improvement in the depressed 
portion of society, as any one from whom nearly every prospect 
of success or victory is taken will find no particular pleasure 
in the struggle, but will only think how he may scantily 
support his life, destined as it is to the service of others. For- 
tunately most of these Pariah's of society, whilst possessing no 
distinct consciousness of their position or knowledge of the 
causes which lead to it, have likewise no feeling of its horrors. 
If they had such a feeling and consciousness, that social revolu- 
tion which has been so often prophesied and which is so much 
dreaded by the proprietary classes, would long since have 
become a fact.* 

It must indeed be admitted that a complete equalization of 

* See Appendix No. 45. 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 215 

the means with which each individual carries on his struggle 
for existence can scarcely ever become a matter of possibility ; 
but even a partial equalization would be attended with the 
most beneficial consequences to the state of society and would 
sharpen, instead of weakening the desirable spur of competition. 
For when it is assigned to everyone to enjoy only the fruits of 
his own industry or of his own exertions, and not to loll upon 
the bed of idleness while the fruits of the industry or good 
fortune of others are poured into his lap, he will find himself 
from the first impelled, in the interest of self-preservation, to 
industry and activity, whilst at present even those who feel in 
themselves the impulse to work are often enough condemned 
by their social position to an involuntary inaction. Even the 
natural inequalities of society and the necessary difference of 
occupations in society will not suffer under such an equaliza- 
tion. Birth, family, residence, talents, personal desires, bodily 
strength or weakness, intellectual advantages, &c. , superinduce 
a multitude of differences of human nature which are quite 
incapable of equalization by external means, and which in the 
further course of each individual life will make themselves felt 
with the same or probably, (when the external means of exist- 
ence are equalized,) with far greater force than hitherto. 

In order to bring about the desiderated equalization to a 
certain extent, and place the individual in a position in which 
he may be able to develop his natural talents satisfactorily, and 
find no obstacles to applying his industry and his faculties in 
any direction of social life, far greater means must be furnished 
to the community or the state than has hitherto been the case. 
This object may be attained in part by giving up the so-called 
ground-rents, (especially that which arises from simple increase 
of the population,) or by bringing back the property in land 
and soil, which of right belongs to all in common, out of the 
possession of private individuals into that of the community,* 

* See Appendix No. 46. 



2l6 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

and in part by a perfectly feasible and gradually increasing limita- 
tion in favor of the community of the right of leaving private 
property to descendants.* These proposals have nothing to do 
with communism, although to many they may at the first 
glance appear to be connected with it, as nothing is contained 
in them which is in contradiction to the principle of private 
property as such, or which could hinder the individual from 
enjoying or employing in the fullest degree the produce of his 
own industry and endeavors. The care of his descendants also 
would not be taken from him so long as no complete abolition 
of the right of inheritance is proposed ; but this care will weigh 
upon him with infinitely less pressure than hitherto, as the 
community would under all circumstances take charge of the 
education and culture of children until they attained an age to 
earn their own living, and must always take charge of those 
descendants who are incapable of earning anything, whenever 
these were not sufficiently provided for by private means, f 
But the consciousness that the individual by his industry is 
working and caring not merely for himself and for his heirs, 
(who are often very undeserving or who do not require his 
aid,) but also for the community at large, would act most 
beneficially in opposition to those egotistical impulses or tend- 
encies which, as we have seen, at present unfortunately con- 
stitute the mainspring of all social activity, and have as their 
consequence a fundamental corruption of the social nature of 
man. The individual will also perceive that, whilst he works 
and cares for the community, he is doing the same for himself 
and his household, inasmuch as all are merely individual con- 
stituents of the whole, and must prosper as the community 
prospers. The so-called Manchester men, who see in govern- 
ment only a sort of police establishment for the security of life 
and property, will not find this easily intelligible ; they wish to 
know as little as possible of government and only require that 

*See Appendix No. 47. +See Appendix No. 48. 



WHERE ARE WE GOING!* 21 7 

social murder and slavery should go on with as little hindrance 
as possible under its protection. In this, indeed, they are 
strongly supported by a reference to our present conditions of 
state,, which really make all governmental interference in private 
and social relations appear most undesirable, and represent only 
a political plundering of the entire body of the people on a 
large scale by a dominant minority. A very different thing 
from this government of force, which must be regarded as a 
remnant of the middle ages, is the true popular government, in 
which the community is only the expression of all, and in which 
all are only the expression of the community. Such a state as 
this really resembles an organism, in which all the juices flow 
constantly and in uninterrupted streams from the circumference 
to the centre, to flow back again immediately from the centre 
to the different parts, and furnish them with strength and health. 
In this uninterrrupted ebb and flow, in this ceaseless inter- 
change of juices between the individual parts and the great 
central points, lies the best guarantee of health, whilst every 
interruption of this movement, every stoppage or accumula- 
tion of the blood in the different parts has illness or discomfort 
as its consequence. Just so is it also in the body of the state, 
which must be less comfortable in proportion as the inter- 
change between the whole and the individual parts is less, and 
as property and riches accumulate in an unnatural manner at 
particular parts of the periphery and fix themselves there with- 
out any free circulation with the general body. Hence the 
enormous private fortunes which have been gradually accumu- 
lated, chiefly in consequence of inheritance and marriage, in 
the hands of individuals or families, and the employment of 
which is left entirely to the will of individuals, cause just the 
same danger to the community or to the state as the excessive 
possession of land by private individuals. By the immense 
influence which property and riches have acquired in our 
present social and political condition, these fortunes have arrived 



2l8 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

at the formation of a state in the state, and, in time to come, and 
in proportion as the theory of the Manchester men makes way, 
they will do this still more, and finally things will come to such 
a pass that no regular government can any longer exist. 
Money or the god Mammon will in the end remain the sole 
ruler of states, and we even now use a very characteristic ex- 
pression when we call the millionaires, " Money princes," as if 
to intimate that in their hands property and riches are combined 
with exorbitant political influence. 

The measures proposed by us will of course operate most 
effectually against this unnatural accumulation of such large 
private fortunes as are injurious to the community, — they will 
constantly carry back the national riches from the hands of 
individuals to the place where they naturally and justly belong, 
namely, the lap of the nation itself. Like a beneficent rain they 
will there distribute themselves among the individual members, 
and awaken life and health where before there was only desola- 
tion and misery. In this way, without the detested com- 
munistic division and without any infringement of private 
interests, a certain amount of division will be taking place 
continually and at every moment, and a constant, normal and 
legitimate equalization between the whole and the parts, as 
also between the parts themselves, will be established. 

A method which accomplishes so much and yet affects or 
injures no one in his personal rights, should not be rejected 
without consideration, (as it probably will be by many who read 
these lines,) but should be carefully examined so that an 
impartial and unprejudiced opinion may be formed upon it. 
Even those practical scruples or doubts as to the possibility of 
carrying it out, which, as in the case of everything new, will 
here make themselves felt with great energy, may all be re- 
moved without much difficulty, as a little consideration will 
make plain to any one who desires to arrive at a clear judg- 
ment on the subject. It will not be difficult by legislative 



WHERE ARE WE GOING ? 2ig 

processes to prevent unlimited donations in case of death, and 
to render fraudulent evasions of the law impossible. The 
limitation of the power of bequest also will not, as many think, 
excessively injure the impulse to acquisition among individuals. 
Innumerable examples prove that the desire of acquiring prop- 
erty is not in the least altered or affected by the want of direcl 
or needy heirs of the body ; and if here and there an individual 
should be induced by the want of direcl inheritors to spend 
more upon himself or upon others than he would otherwise 
have done, we can find no injury to the community in this. 
On the contrary, a counterpoise to that avaricious and useless 
spirit of hoarding, which at present rules the minds of most men 
of property, would be of the greatest service, and at any rate 
useful and necessary expenditure of the moment would no 
longer be limited to the same extent as hitherto from con- 
siderations of the future and to the injury of the present. The 
thirst for money and riches has the peculiarity that it is not, 
like any other thirst, stopped by being satisfied, but in general 
increases in the same proportion that food is offered to it. 
Every rich man is inspired by the wish to become still richer 
in order that he may rival or excel those who already exceed 
him in riches and in external display, — and the cases are com- 
paratively rare in which great private wealth is employed in 
carrying out generally useful plans for the furtherance of the 
common weal, arrangements for the assistance of struggling 
talent, and : so forth. 

It is clear that in this way only tendencies and impulses 
are cultivated which are useless or injurious to the common 
weal, such as avarice, jealousy, envy, ostentation, dishonesty, 
&c. , whilst philanthropy, furtherance of the common weal, 
the support of suffering or needy people, sacrifices for great 
purposes, furthering the well-being of man in material or 
intellectual matters, &c, must stand behind these egotistical 
motives or tendencies. 



220 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

This entire condition of things must, however, be reversed 
as soon as the individual is brought by the arrangements of 
society itself, into a different and more intimate connection with 
it, and with the community in general. The tendency to 
employ his wealth not merely for himself but for purposes of 
public utility will increase to an unexpected extent, and in place 
of that absurd desire of personal ostentation which prevails at 
present among nearly all wealthy people and impels them to 
lavish unhesitatingly uncounted sums upon the gratification of 
the smallest and pettiest personal desires and vanities, whilst 
an equally petty avarice prevails in opposition to all non-ego- 
tistical objects, we shall have love of the community, assistance 
to others, furtherance of great and general purposes, &c. But 
even should this action upon the spirit of individuals and this 
improvement of human nature be wanting, the state or the 
community will take that care upon itself, and employ the 
wealth constantly flowing to it from the private property of the 
dead, not only for the advancement of the common weal, but 
also for the furtherance of all general objects beneficial to 
mankind as such, and to its advancement. Thus, while at 
present the wealth of the nation is to a certain extent held in 
private hands and is in general employed in a manner either use- 
less or positively injurious to the community, the very opposite 
must then be the case to the blessing of all. All this necessarily 
leads to the question of capital, which has become so important 
and been so often discussed in our day, and upon which, un- 
fortunately, infinite obscurity still prevails in most minds. 



CAPITAL. 

CAPITAL, in the most general sense, is another denomina- 
tion for work already done and completed, or, more 
correctly expressed, it is the collected and stored up bodily and 
intellectual work of our ancestors and contemporaries, con- 
verted into possessions or useful property of all kinds,* (such 
as money, arable lands, houses, goods, means of transport, 
tools, knowledge, &c.) 

From this definition it appears at once how brainless and 
senseless is the cry against capital as such which is now the 
fashion among the working classes. The battle-cry of the 
workman should not be : Down with capital ! but : Long live 
capital ! Were we in a position at present with a single blow 
to cause all capital to disappear from the world, we should 
voluntarily throw ourselves back into that rude and miserable 
state, in which our earliest ancestors led their half-animal lives 
in a most imperfect manner, as indeed the progress of civiliza- 
tion consists chiefly in the gradual accumulation of those in- 
numerable appliances and knowledges by which alone a civilized 
life, freed from the rude bonds of the force of nature, is rendered 

* Many define capital as the excess of the produce of labor over its wages, or as 
the increased value of the work perfomed by the capitalistic method of produc- 
tion, which the capitalist or speculator puts in his pocket. It is clear that this is 
no definition nor even an explanation of the mode of origin of capital, but only 
an expression of one of those multifarious processes by which capital accumulates 
in individual hands. By such definitions nothing is explained, but only an unnec- 
essary agitation is produced. Even F. A. Lange (Die Arbeiterf?-age, &c.) gives 
no explanation of the mode of origin of capital, but only explains the causes or 
oneol the causes of its unfair distribution, when he says that capital on the whole 
originates in part directly and in part indirectly from the lordly possessions and 
the privileges of the feudal ages. 

(221) 



222 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

possible. The greater, the more extensive and the more 
valuable that enormous treasure of physical and intellectual 
property which mankind accumulates in its gradual course of 
development, and bequeaths onwards from generation to genera- 
tion, the more does it approach the fulfillment of its true destiny, 
and the greater will also be the general proportion of its happi- 
ness. The evil of which we have to complain is not due to the 
fact that this treasure or capital, (in the widest sense,) exists at 
all, but to the circumstance that it is not in the same ?neasure or 
in the same manner at the command of every individual. If all 
had capital, no one would have occasion to complain of it, but 
in all probability every one would tell of its advantageous 
effects. It is only the interest on capital that converts capital 
into that detested instrument of the rich against the poor, by 
which the former are always sure that, without any exertions 
of their own, the labor of others will always be performed for 
them and for their support. 

Thus if we examine the affair to the bottom, it is clear that 
the whole misconception which attaches to the so-called power 
of capital has its foundation not in the existence of capital as 
such, but solely in its unequal distrihition, which contradicts 
the principles not only of justice, but also those of sound 
national economy. All the reproaches and curses that have 
been cast upon capital seem to be unjust so long as we speak 
of capital in itself, and probably become more or less just when 
we substitute for it the expression, "private capital." In fact 
we can by no means see why the labor of the past and of the 
community in the present should benefit, not the community, 
but only individuals, and why what belongs to mankind is 
withheld by individual interests. Even without considering 
what has been left us by our ancestors and the universal right 
of all in the soil, the enormous increase of value which all exist- 
ing property experiences by the simple increase of population, 
by the increase of credit, and by the rise of all industrial, mer- 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 223 

candle and other conditions, is so much the direct consequence 
of the common activity of all, that it must appear to be the 
greatest injustice that the chief benefit of this increase of value 
accrues almost exclusively to individual persons who are acci- 
dentally in possession of this or that property, and who perhaps 
have contributed least of all by their own activity to bring about 
the result. No one will be inclined to assert that those in 
whose hands capital or the results of the industry, the skill, the 
thought and the exertions of the generations which lived before 
us and of those still living, is now chiefly to be found, have 
earned it by their own activity and industry, or that the poverty 
and want of property of the lower and working classes are the 
consequences of misfortunes which they have brought upon 
themselves. There is therefore no other means to level these 
irregularities so as to satisfy justice and the needs of national 
economy, except the partly permanent and partly temporary re- 
storation of capital, — the wealth of the people, — the property 
of mankind, — to the hands of those to whom they naturally and 
justly belong, namely, iuto the possession of the community or 
of mankind as such. 

Whilst these goods then stand once more at the disposal of 
the individual so far as he requires them for the development and 
utilization of his powers, they make him independent of the 
dominion of private capital and enable him, without sacrificing 
his powers in the service of others, to serve both himself and 
the community or humanity at large by his activity. But the 
former power of private capital itself will lose almost all its 
importance in the presence of the enormous concentration of 
the wealth of the people in the hands of the state or of the 
community, and the diminution or perhaps total cessation of 
the interest accruing from it under competition with the capital 
of the state, will render it impossible for idlers any longer to live 
without exertions or deserts of their own at the cost of the 
community or of others. The chief benefit will however con- 



224 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

sist in the fact that the wealth of the nation will be taken from 
under the influence of the arbitrary will, the stupidity, the 
malevolence, or the avarice of private individuals, and will no 
longer be applied to unproductive or even injurious purposes, 
but solely to the benefit and welfare of all. The boundless and 
most pernicious rage of speculation will come to an end, and in 
place of incalculable national debts we shall have an inexhausti- 
ble national wealth. Even the private individual who has 
worked so long and successfully as to be able to take his ease, 
as the phrase goes, will probably in most cases prefer to hand 
over the wealth acquired by him, in whole or in part, to the 
community and in return for it to stipulate for a corresponding 
maintenance for life. Lastly, one part of what we now de- 
nominate capital and the part to which the disagreeable acces- 
sory notion of capital principally clings, namely, money, will 
scarcely be necessary to the state, as it will probably in most 
cases be possible to attain all the purposes of society by organi- 
zation and mutual equalization of work. 



LABOR AND LABORERS. 

ONE of the greatest follies which the present age has com- 
mitted and is still committing is the creation of a special 
laborer' 's question and its separation from the great or general 
social questions. In this case, also, as in the question of capi- 
tal, the root of the matter does not lie in work itself but only in 
its unjust distribution. Fundamentally, all men are laborers 
with the exception of the comparatively few who live upon the 
stored up fat of their predecessors, or upon the labor of others ; 
and if work, as is certainly the case, is very differently paid for, 
this generally stands in a not unjustifiable relation to the kind 
and difficulty of the work, and to the dangers and expenses 
connected with its acquisition or performance. It is therefore 
only an unnatural revivification of that class-opposition, which 
is in opposition to all the principles of modern times, to place 
the laborer par excellence (that is to say the industrial or factory 
workman) in contradistinction to all the other classes of society, 
as Lassalle has done, and to require for him special privileges 
within a society which has elevated political equality into its 
leading principle. Labor is depressed, not the laborer as such. 
If we recognize as just the principles upon which existing soci- 
ety is built up, we must also accept all their consequences, and 
not make it a ground of complaint that the inexorable struggle 
for existence gives unequal results, when the means with which 
it has to be fought are themselves unequal. The ignorant 
workman excited by all sorts of demonstrations has now-a-days 
accustomed himself to regard his master as the real cause of his 

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226 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

miseries and wrongs, but this is just as unwise or foolish as for 
him to regard capital in itself as his enemy. " Without capital 
and without a master he might at any moment die of hunger, 
and as a work-taker he is very often in a comparatively much 
more favorable position than his work-giver ; who on his part, 
if he is not himself a capitalist, depends upon other capitalists, 
and in general has to struggle with a multitude of galling cares 
and dangers of which his workmen have no conception. The 
workman, all whose aspirations are directed merely to the 
increase of the wages paid to him, does not consider that the 
work -giver, however rich or prosperous he may be, does not 
pay him out of his own pocket, but only out of the pockets of 
the public, and that this as well as the competition which hems 
him in on every side, lay upon him certain limits which he 
cannot overstep without bringing himself to ruin. The existing 
relations between work-givers and work-takers or the so-called 
capitalistic mode of production is only a necessary and inev- 
itable result of our given social relations, and those who, whilst 
acknowledging these relations, declaim against this mode of 
production and its consequences, which are certainly often very 
grievous,* act in just as wise a manner as a surgeon who 
should take a symptom or external manifestation of a disease 
for the disease itself. Moreover the reproaches cast upon the 
capitalistic mode of production and the so-called wages-system 
generally apply only to very large industrial undertakings and 
to those trades in which o?ily working hands and capital are 

* "The capitalistic mode of production," says J. G. Eccarius, (Eines Arbeiters 
Widerlegungde>~national-dko?iomischen Lehren,]. S. Mill, Berlin, 1869,) " is under 
the most favorable circumstances a social war without interruption. The im- 
provement of the machinery of production goes about like a roaring Lion and 
seeks whom it may devour. It is a barbarous war, — the artillery and the victories 
are all on one side, the killed and wounded on the other. It is an abominable and 
contemptible war produced by avarice, — undisguised avarice, — which is the more 
hateful because the accumulation of wealth for wealth's sake is represented as an 
ennobling principle, and proclaimed by its worshippers a divine ordinance or an 
eternal law of nature bringing health to humanity. Those who perish in this 
struggle have not even the comfort of dying for a good or glorious cause, — they 
are inspired by no fanaticism, by no illusion. They are mere sacrifices to Plutus, 
who are acquainted with their fate and see their destruction before them at every 
step." 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 227 

employed, whilst wherever a business or a factory depends 
upon the creative activity, the inventive genius, the industry or 
any other special faculty of its undertaker, or even upon the 
particular goodness of its whole organization, the increased 
gain, falsely called the premium on capital of the undertaker or 
organizer, is very well earned* 

In order to get rid of the wages-system and give the work- 
man the actual produce of his labor instead of the mere wages, 
Lassalle and his adherents have, as is well known, proposed the 
establishment of productive associations as they are called, that 
is to say, independent associations of workmen for productive 
purposes, and this by the aid of state credit or by the help of 
the state. This proposition is subject to a considerable number 
of both external and internal difficulties which render its being 
carried out under existing circumstances exceedingly question- 
able. But even if this were not the case, and if we could suc- 

* In an essay on the premium on capital in his Pioneer, Karl Heinzen ex- 
presses himself upon this point very well as follows : 

" But what measure shall be applied when the works necessary for carrying on 
a business are of completely different kinds and the capitalist is not merely its 
undertaker but also, by special qualification, its creator and maintainer ? It is 
true that without the aid of the workmen the business can no more exist than 
without capital; but shall the capitalist have no preference over those who help 
him in his business ? shall they have an equal claim with him to profit ? shall the 
greater share which he appropriates to himself be regarded as an objectionable 
'premium* on capital,' when he alone is the soul of the business, when it only 
exists by his creative activity, when its nature requires special faculties which he 
alone possesses, and perhaps he only attained them by the greatest sacrifices ? 

"Even in the most everyday business we are perplexed by the question of the 
right mode of division. Take a merchant's business: — To carry it on we 
require, besides the undertaking capitalist, book-keeper, clerks, messengers, 
carters, servants, &c. Shall all these assistants have an equal right to the profits 
with the capitalist ? Shall his right to a greater share be disputed as 'premium 
on capital ? ' 

"Let us take another example. An author who possesses the necessary 
capital sets up a newspaper. Notwithstanding his intellectual and pecuniary 
capital, he is unable to bring it out without the assistance of a book-keeper, a 
manager, a set of printers and even a printer's devil. The Journal, however, 
prospers by the industry and talent of its founder, and by this talent and industry 
alone. His capital would be less powerful without his talent, than his talent 
without his capital. Now does justice require that he should divide the whole 
profit of his undertaking with his assistant workers down even to the printer's 
devil ? Does he not do enough if he pays each of them the highest price for his 
work, which cannot by any means be brought into the same category with his 
own ? Is he to be condemned as a capitalist if he estimates the product of his 
activity which decides the prosperity and even the very existence of the business, 
at a higher value than that of his workmen ? " 



226 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

ceed by means of the universal suffrage advocated by Lassalle, 
in securing the acceptance and cooperation of the state for his 
proposals (which, however, is very improbable without some 
previous social reforms), it would very soon appear that these 
state-factories would be by no means in a position to attain the 
object expected from them, namely, the liberation of the 
workman from his depressed social position, or would attain it 
in a very imperfect degree. For in the first place the average 
net profit of a particular factory or business, which may cer- 
tainly appear very large in the hands of an individual, is com- 
paratively very small as soon as it comes to be divided among 
all the partakers and co-laborers in the business or among a 
great number, and in times of crisis, of want of business or of 
greatly increased competition it may even fall far below the 
level of what is generally paid to the individual workman as 
wages. 

In the second place the factories guaranteed by the state, 
(assuming their practicability and greater profit to be perma- 
nent,) will still benefit only a part and probably a comparatively 
small part of the working population, as no one will be inclined 
to assert that all the occupations of daily life could be carried 
on by means of such organized factories or associations, (in 
which, moreover, the want of unity between the individual 
partakers would form an essential stumbling-block.) Consider 
for example the very large class of domestic servants and many 
other branches of human activity ! 

Thus even if we presuppose the establishment and the antici- 
pated result of such associations established by the aid of the 
state, there will always remain a great residue of workers not 
engaged in these associations. The necessary consequence 
of this is the formation of an aristocracy of laborers and of a 
fifth state besides the' existing four. Within this fifth state and 
among these true proletaries the whole movement will then 
begin again from the commencement, and indeed more violent- 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 229 

ly, threateningly and bitterly than before, as the hatred of the 
poor will be excited against their better situated or more 
favored confreres not merely on account of their social infe- 
riority, but also on account of their political inferiority. 

Not only this physical but also the intellectual proletariate, 
and indeed every other class of society, will immediately lay 
claim to the assistance of the state, and with the same right as 
the industrial or factory workmen, and it can no more be 
denied to them than to the latter. And at last where is the state, 
great as its credit may still be, to obtain all the means to satisfy 
such numerous claims? It is true that state-aid in itself and as 
a principle is by no means so objectionable as Lassalle's oppo- 
nents assert, and the arguments against it, which it has been 
attempted to derive from the accepted nature of the state, are 
entirely untenable.* But without a previous reformation of the 
law of property, and without the state being furnished with 
enormous means, it is simply an impossibility, and it is there- 
fore quite natural that under the actually existing state of things 
self-help in accordance with the proposals of the celebrated politi- 
cal economist, Schulze-Delitzsch, is preferred to it among really 
intelligent workmen. Indeed this self-help in which so many 
at present pride themselves with mistaken vanity, is in itself 
only a very poor expedient, and as a principle just as inefficient 
as state assistance is efficient. For self-help without means 
merely signifies simple failure or gradual languishing. If we 
throw a man who cannot swim, without any means of keeping 
himself above water, into a rushing stream, (and life is just such 
a stream,) he will certainly sink in it. But if we previously 
teach him to swim or to sail and give him a boat or put an oar 
into his hand, he will struggle successfully with the waves. 
But the blindness that exists as to the present state of society is 
so great, that those who possess all the resources for the 
struggle or for onward movement in the greatest superfluity, 

* See Appendix No. 49. 



230 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

furnish none of them to their poor or struggling brother, but 
refer him scornfully to that self-help which in most cases has 
not been practised by themselves, and rather suffocate in their 
own fatness, than yield to others something out of their super- 
fluity, which, perhaps, is even a trouble to themselves. The 
throwing of an oar or plank from the ship of the rich or high- 
placed man as it sails proudly by, would often suffice to save 
the poor one from certain destruction ; but the principle of self- 
help forbids it, and the poor man must sink with a last despair- 
ing glance at those treasures which are often only an annoyance 
to others, and to him would be synonymous with salvation and 
happiness.* 

All this proves that self-help without aid from the state is just 
as much an impossibility as state assistance without the aid of 
society, and also that the root of the whole evil lies not in the 
position of the laboring class as such, but in the false and in- 
sufficient organization of society. The position of the workman 
is only a simple necessary consequence of our general and 
economic state and of the false and unjust distribution of labor 
in social life. Mutual equalization and distribution of the pos- 
sessions which have become useless to individuals through the 
community with the assistance of the state, at the same time 
securing to the individual those means and conditions which he 
absolutely requires in his struggle for existence, is here also the 
only means of salvation. 

When the working men and the present leaders of their 
movement have once clearly realized this truth with all its 

*Schultze-Delitzsch, with his self-help, has, however, the advantage over all his 
opponents, over all socialistic or economistic systems, that he takes his stand upon 
the ground of existing co?iditions and from this evolves a directly beneficial activity, 
whilst all others hope in the future and require considerable political revolutions 
as a necessary preliminary condition for their practical activity. One may there- 
fore very well be a decided socialist and nevertheless, so long as political conditions 
remain the same, be active in the direction of Schultz's system. However, it is 
now a generally admitted fact that this system is almost solely beneficial to small 
operations, small masters, &c, whilst the actual workman derives very little if 
any benefit from it, 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 231 

necessary consequences, they will save themselves many use- 
less words and efforts and, what is of more consequence, much 
self-deception. An evil is not cured by counteracting its symp- 
toms or external phenomena, but by attacking it at the root. 
In this respect Lassalle has done much mischief by raising a 
special workman's question when he should have disclosed and 
attacked the social defects ; with his universal suffrage and 
state-associations he has held out a bait to the workmen, at 
which they certainly bit with avidity, but which, in the hour of 
danger, will leave them miserably in the lurch. Lassalle, how- 
ever, was no socialist, as so many in their ignorance suppose, 
but an economist ; at least his proposals have nothing of a 
socialistic character about them. Almost at the moment of the 
first appearance of Lassalle the author publicly expressed the 
opinion here maintained of him and his system in a report upon 
Lassalle' s Labor-programme, made on April 19, 1863, at 
Rcedelheim,* and although now seven years' experience lies 
behind us, he can still subscribe to nearly every word contained 
in it. The crude communism, into which Lassalle' s labor- 
movement has since degenerated, is, however, the best proof 
of its intrinsic untenability. But for the workmen themselves 
and their cause it is a bad sign that names such as those of 
Lassalle and Schulze-Delitsch could become a sort of Shiboleth 
or battle-cry to divide them into two hostile camps contending 
with each other with great fury ; this shows a frightful want of 
consideration and judgment and instead of these a blind imita- 
tion or idolatry. But man should have no idols, whether 
religious, political, scientific or social. Let us leave idolatry 
to the middle ages, to the hypocrites, the blockheads and the 
sluggards ! 

* Herr Lassalle und die Arbeiter. — Bericht und Vortrag, etc., von Dr. Louis 
Buchner, R. Baist, Frankfort on the Maine. 



THE FAMILY. 

AS often as proposals have been made for the improvement 
or reformation of the state of society, an unanimous cry- 
rises from the mouths of opponents that it is intended to under- 
mine the eternal and indestructible chief pillars of law, morals 
and the family. The family, especially, is regarded in this case 
as the indispensable foundation of society, as the nursery of 
every thing good and noble, and as the firmest support of the 
so-called Christian state, — and every one who ventures to say 
a word against this institution, sanctified as it is by age, is 
branded as half a criminal. It is therefore well worth the 
trouble to examine once for all how far this assertion, which is 
so generally accepted as incontestible, is or is not correct, and 
to see whether such terrible consequences, as are generally set 
before us, are really to be anticipated from a limitation of 
family rights for the benefit of the community. We then as- 
certain in the first place that in its present form the family also 
is closely and necessarily connected with that condition of social 
egotism which we have found to be the consequence of the un- 
limited struggle for existence when not yet bridled by the 
power of reason, and that the family represents on a larger 
scale in society very nearly what the individual is in the com- 
munity. We know from history that the striving for family 
lustre, family power and family wealth has' at all times been one 
of the principal objecls of human endeavors, and that to this 
striving all higher human objects, all considerations of the 
common-weal have been sacrificed in innumerable instances 

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WHERE ARE WE GOING? 233 

without hesitation or scruple. Although the great French 
revolution has effected a great improvement in this respect and, 
by the principle of individual liberty and equality introduced 
by it, broken the direct political power of the great families, 
still the system continues to exist as such in the social domain 
and by direct means even in the political ; and what is called 
nepotism, or the favoring of certain families and their individual 
members to the injury of the rest and of the community, forms, 
as is well known, one of the most hateful and at the same time 
injurious features of our political and social state. 

If we leave this out of consideration and consider only the 
family as such, no one, of course, will deny that in itself it 
forms a truly human institution, and that in its ideal form it is 
capable or even destined to exert the most beneficial influence 
upon human development and manners. But if we enquire 
further where and how often this ideal family is really to be met 
with, the answer to this question is very lamentable. Here, as 
everywhere, the struggle for existence in its wildest form has 
raged fearfully and most unrestrainedly, and left the happiness 
and the infinite tendernesses of the true family life to be enjoyed 
by very few. The family in its true form exists only for the 
rich and prosperous ; whilst the poor man or the proletaire 
know the family only in a form which in general constitutes 
the direct opposite of what it should be. 

If we consider firat of all the lowest strata of society, as those 
who belong to it are usually destitute of the means of founding 
a true family, they often enough replace it by vicious courses 
or illicit cohabitation. Where this is not the case, the family- 
life of the lower and lowest classes is unfortunately as a rule 
rather a nursery of evil than of good, and it fulfills its essential 
purpose only in a very imperfect manner. For during by far 
the greater part of the day both parents are absent from home 
seeking their livelihood, — and as to the children, when under 
the most defective care and domestic bringing up they have 



234 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

attained a certain age, they are regarded by their parents 
rather as working instruments than as human beings entrusted 
to their care. The father who, in common life, leads a de- 
pendent and servile or uniform, unintellectual existence, sees in 
his wife and children the only beings in the world over whom 
he is justified in exerting a certain personal authority, and in 
the few moments of his being at home or of his family-life, 
revenges himself for his social depression by the rough treat- 
ment or maltreatment of these beings. If to this, as is so fre- 
quently the case, drunkenness be added, the matter becomes 
still worse. The poor children grow up in constant anxiety, in 
want, under the most unfavorable conditions for life and health, 
and misguided by the constant spectacle of coarseness and evil.* 
Thus even in earliest youth the germ of intellectual and corpo- 
real crippling is laid, and whatever of good Nature has still pre- 
severed in them is utterly lost when they are forced upon 
toilsome and wearing labor at an age when the children of the 
rich just begin really to enjoy their existence. Animal impulses, 
restrained by no moral counterpoise, and want of insight or of 
true family sentiment, also allow the families of the poor to be- 
come generally much more numerous than those of the rich, 
and thus the wretchedness of the rising generation is incalcula- 
bly increased. But our existing system of police, which em- 
ploys such great means to manifest a hypocritical care for the 
bare life of those under it, and which sends a poor girl, who in 
her shame and despair has got rid of her illegitimate child, to 
the house of correction for many years, makes no enquiry 
whether and how a great, perhaps the greater part of its future 
citizens are maltreated both corporeally and intellectually in 
their childish days, and regards them merely as the property of 

* Suicides, as is well known, are very rare among children. Nevertheless 
Diirand-Fardel has ascertained that between the years 1835 and 1844 no fewer than 
192 suicides took place in France, and of these 132 were on account of ill treat- 
ment by pare?zts. 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 235 

their parents, who are just as likely to rear their child into a 
monster as into a good citizen. But if the monster is there 
against our will, the christian state, raised upon the foundations 
of true morality, is also at hand, to punish the unfortunate vic- 
tim with chains and dungeon — with sword and rack — for its 
own guilt ! 

No one who is acquainted with these circumstances and who 
has had the opportunity of seeing with his own eyes what a 
cradle of misery and despair, of abomination and present and 
future crime the family in its bad form frequently if not gener- 
ally conceals within it, will be inclined to deny that, at all 
events for the lowest strata of society, social education is far 
preferable to domestic, and that an infringement or limitation 
of this sort of family for the benefit of an education of youth, 
arranged and supervised by the state, can do no more to injure 
the principles of morality than those of sound reason. 

But not only in the lowest classes of society, but also in its 
middle and even at its highest point the family is unfortunately 
only too often a school of despotism or of evil, and rather the 
tomb than the cradle of good ; and this is especially the case 
when the chief of the family has a defective character or a bad 
disposition, or when by misfortunes, disappointments and so 
forth he is driven to desperate courses, or finally when the 
harmony between husband and wife, which is so necessary for 
the existence of a good family, is wanting. It is true that in 
what is called good society one does not generally have much 
experience of these things, but the frightful family-tragedies, 
which from time to time are brought to the light of publicity by 
peculiar circumstances, allow us to conclude that much is con- 
cealed and kept secret. But even where there is nothing of 
this kind in the case, and in what are regarded as good fami- 
lies, family life does not always exert a strengthening influence 
upon the nervous system and upon the character, and the 
numerous hysterical, anaemic and nervous ladies, and the great 



236 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

number of men with no energy and with feeble characters, fur- 
nish evidence by no means in favor of our family-education. 
Taken for all in all a good, prosperous, rightly and rationally 
conducted family may cause all other systems of bringing up to 
appear superfluous for its members ; but in the same degree 
that such families are rare, the value of the family-principle as 
such is depressed, and in opposition to it the value of a social 
or governmental system of education rises. Even if the state 
were to leave out of account all high moral considerations and 
entirely neglect the principle of political humanity, it must 
merely from economical or selfish grounds turn its greatest 
attention to that which will form the subject of the following 
section, namely, education. 



EDUCATION. 

BOTH duty and interest prescribe to the government of the 
future to turn its chief attention to a general, uniform 
system of popular education, such as may satisfy the claims of 
the present state of knowledge. Duty, because as we have 
seen, every man brings with him an equal right not merely to 
the material but also to the intellectual possessions of mankind 
or hi specie of his people, and because he can victoriously sup- 
port his struggle for existence only when he treads the stage of 
life furnished with the most necessary means of cultivation of his 
time ; Interest, because nothing can be better for the state than 
if by giving a good education to the people and by leading 
them to what is good, its enormous expenditure for barracks, 
prisons, police, and the administration of criminal law, may be 
rendered for the most part unnecessary. 

The theory of the Manchester men would withdraw every 
thing which does not relate to the protection of person and 
property from the charge of the state, and leave it to private 
activity ; but how little it has proved itself in respect to the im- 
portant matter of popular education is shown by England, the 
classic land of personal liberty, where the rudeness and want of 
culture of the lower ranks of the people have reached such a 
frightful pass, that at present the agitation for the introduction 
of general and compulsory school-education, after the conti- 
nental and especially the German pattern, has become universal 
there. On the peoples' school depends the whole future of the 
state and of humanity ; and whoever, in a given state, could 

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238 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

make sure of holding firmly in his hand the Ministry of educa- 
tion for twenty or thirty years, might answer for every possible 
change in that state in the direction of culture, freedom and 
progress. By education everything good may be made of man 
and especially of the average man ; by the want of it every 
thing bad. That crimes against the laws of the state or of so- 
ciety are for the most part just as much the result of defective 
culture or perverted education, as necessary consequences of 
the general distresses of society, is a fact too well known and 
recognized to need more than a brief indication. Criminals are 
therefore as a rule rather unfortunate than detestable, and a 
future, better time will look back upon the criminal processes 
of our day with the same feelings with which we now regard 
the political trials or witchcraft processes of the past. In the 
same proportion as culture, prosperity and morals advance, we 
know by experience that crime decreases ; it will probably dis- 
appear in time altogether, with the exception of a scanty resi- 
due, just like the former great epidemic diseases. Crime in 
political life, is nothing more than disease in physical life; and 
just as in medicine and in public sanitary administration we 
have gradually come to see that it is better and more advan- 
tageous to prevent diseases than to oppose them after they have 
broken out, so in the life of the state we shall learn that it is 
better to prevent crime by rational arrangements or to suppress 
it at its origin, than to fight against it with fire and sword when 
it has been produced. Make your arrangements good and 
wise, O ye rulers of the state, and then men will become also 
good and wise ! 

As regards the education or instruction itself, it need scarcely 
be remarked, in the face of the requirements so often and so 
pressingly made by all liberal parties and in accordance with 
the principles established by us, that general, obligatory and 
gratuitous instruction in national schools until the attainment of 
a certain age is the least that can be demanded in this respecl, 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 239 

whilst the higher educational institutions must at least be open 
gratuitously for all those who are willing to make use of them. 
That the fostering of science as such must also form one of the 
principal tasks of the state, and especially of the state of the 
future, is a matter of course, although this must be effected in 
a different way than by our existing Universities and higher 
educational institutions, which have gradually fallen from their 
former elevation as nurseries of free science, and become more 
or less mere training institutions for the learned professions, 
and especially for future compliant tools of the mechanism of 
government* 

Moreover, it is not sufficient merely to care for education 
during the period of youth ; time and opportunity must also be 
given to the grown-up man to continue his intellectual develop- 
ment and to take part, at least to a certain extent, in the great 
intellectual acquisitions of his time. This applies especially to 
the true working classes, who after the termination of their 
school-time under present circumstances usually escape entirely 
from the course of culture of their time, and allow the man to 
rise or sink almost completely into the workman. But in a 
humanely organized state every one should be and remain a 
man ; and this can be effected for the working classes only by 
a legal diminution of the hours of labor and the establishment 
of a normal working day by the state, f The hours thus daily 
set free for the workman would give him the opportunity to 
cultivate his knowledge, to learn to understand the time in 
which he lives, to enjoy suitable and intellectual pleasures, — in 
a word to live as a man and not as a mere working machine or 
beast of burden. 

The attention of the state ought to be devoted not only to 
the intellectual but also to the bodily education of those who 
belong to it, and to the protection of the rising generation from 
premature crippling of the body. The sins that are still com- 

* See Appendix No. 50. t See Appendix No. 51. 



240 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

mitted in this particular, partly by action, partly by neglect, 
are so indescribably numerous and great that we might fill 
volumes with their description. Here, again, nothing but social 
education and governmental supervision can help us. It is a 
statistically proved and truly horrible fact that the duration oi 
life in the lower ranks of society, especially the working classes, 
is generally only half or two-thirds of that which the higher 
ranks enjoy, so that by the present condition of society the 
former are cheated out of nearly half their normal life. The 
cause of this sad phenomenon lies in the infinite deficiencies 
both of public and private sanitary measures, in the neglect of 
corporeal education during youth, and in the disregard of the 
bodily welfare of the working classes during their subsequent 
life. In improving these conditions, the legal abridgment of 
the time of labor and the alternation of work and recreation 
thereby afforded, will have the most beneficial consequences. 



WOMAN. 

IT is a fact historically proved that the estimation of and re- 
spect for woman in human society have increased in the 
same proportion that the degree of general culture and good 
manners has been elevated. In like manner in the present day 
we find that the position of woman is the more creditable the 
higher the degree of culture in the nation, whilst among savage 
tribes she still occupies that lowest grade as the slave and beast 
of burden of the stronger sex, which was quite universally as- 
signed to her at the dawn of civilization, and among half- civilized 
peoples (for example, in the East) she occupies only the some- 
what better position of a half-slave. Even this single fa6l 
might suffice to indicate the way on which the position of 
woman has to advance in the future, and to show how a man 
belonging to a civilized nation and himself laying claim to cul- 
ture, has to act towards her. "We men," as Radenhausen 
well says Qfszs, Band III. p. ioo), " must accustom ourselves 
to regard and treat the female half of mankind not as agents 
for the service and gratification of the men, but as our equals." 
There is indeed not the slightest visible reason why the prin- 
ciple of equal legal rights, which is at present so generally recog- 
nized, should not also be extended to the female half of the 
human race. The duties and performances that woman has to 
fulfill in the organism of human society do not yield either in 
importance or in difficulty to those of the men, and these per- 
formances might be increased far beyond their present measure 
if only a larger and freer field were opened to the activity of 

(241) 



242 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

women. Even if women, as many suppose, cannot in general 
compete with men in the force and elevation of their perform- 
ances, this is no reason from cutting them off from competition, 
and thus injuring them in the general struggle for existence 
more than they are already injured by their weaker nature. 
Moreover, even after the removal of all barriers, this very 
struggle for existence will furnish the best security that woman 
shall not overstep the range of activity assigned to her by na- 
ture, and all-powerful custom will do more than any police- 
regulations to keep sensitive women aloof from such things or 
spheres to which they are not equal or fitted. There are indeed 
many branches of human activity for which women are as well 
fitted as men, if not better, such as agriculture, cattle-farming, 
gardening, watchmaking, weaving, needlework and the like, 
also setting up type, post office work, book-keeping, manage- 
ment of money, authorship, etc. , etc. All kinds of arts and 
even sciences, teaching, medicine, care of the poor and sick, 
the bringing up of children and so forth, also very frequently 
find their most distinguished representatives in women. That 
they do not always perform so much as men is due not merely 
to their weaker nature or to their smaller capability of work, 
but equally, or perhaps even more, to their defective education 
and depressed social position. Free women from this depressed 
position, give them the education and culture necessary for 
life, and we shall see what they are able to perform when placed 
on an equality with men politically and socially. — Whether 
this be much or little, it can only be for the advantage of the 
community if by increased rivalry the zeal of competition is in- 
creased on both sides, and so great an amount of working 
power, hitherto lying idle, is supplied to Society. But the 
least that woman, as such, can demand for herself is, that the 
course may at least be left free to her on which to try competi- 
tion with the stronger sex. 

"At any rate," as Radenhausen well says, " the female half 



WHERE ARE WE GOING ? 243 

has a right to demand permission to try its capabilities for the 
advancement of humanity in every branch of activity, and that 
the path to culture which stands open to the male half, should 
also be opened to it. ' ' If this male half or the so-called stronger 
sex fears this competition and seeks to get rid of it by despotic 
regulations, this is the best proof that in reality woman and her 
capabilities, of performance are more highly estimated than 
would generally appear, and that this sex cannot resolve to re- 
sign the cherished habit of ruling and oppressing. 

The position of mitigated slavery which woman even now 
generally occupies with respect to man, is merely a residue 
from that barbarous period when the stronger man harnessed 
the weaker woman to the plough, in spite of her less bodily 
powers, and set her to perform all labors of the most difficult 
and humiliating kind, whilst he himself reposed upon his bear- 
skin; and when the Europeans of the present day exclude 
women from so many branches of useful activity on the plea 
that their nature is not adapted for them, this logic resembles 
the well-known slave-law, which denies to slaves and oppressed 
people generally the capacity for freedom, and in accordance 
with this also (in the interest of the oppressor) freedom itself. 
If it be really true that woman does not possess the capabilities 
which would entitle her to a position in life equal to that of 
man, and that she is not able to acquire it, her social position 
would not be essentially altered in spite of all emancipation. 
Thus it would only depend upon an experiment, quite free from 
danger in itself, to ascertain whether the above-mentioned sup- 
position is correct or not. 

The objections which have been raised to the so-called eman- 
cipation of women, or in other words to their political and social 
equalization with men, are generally of so untenable a kind 
that it requires some little self-command on the part of a candid 
author to argue against them. The commonest and most fre- 
quent objection is that woman in her whole nature is intended 



244 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

for domestic life, for the family, for bringing up children and so 
forth, and that this true destination of woman must be preju- 
diced by her partaking in public or social affairs or in any other 
kind of activity. This objection overlooks the essential point 
on which the whole question turns, and presupposes, quite er- 
roneously, that the object of the emancipation of woman is to 
tear her from her natural sphere of action or her household 
duties and to fling her unnecessarily into the business of the 
great world. No woman who possesses a family and a domes- 
tic sphere of action and finds in this activity satisfaction for her 
mental or moral faculties, will allow herself to be disturbed in 
this activity o." kept away from it by emancipation, whilst that 
very great number of women who do not possess such a sphere 
of action or do not find their lives fully occupied by it, suffer 
the heaviest privation in the want of this freedom, and find 
themselves condemned agaiiist their will to a mental or bodily 
inactivity which often becomes the source of the most serious 
evils. How many women pine away or deteriorate, sometimes 
bodily, sometimes intellectually and both in and out of wedlock, 
under the deadening pressure of a constant idleness which is 
imposed upon them by an imaginary regard for their position, 
or by compulsory sloth and inaction ! The innate impulse to 
action then finally breaks out in a love of gossip or dress which 
ruins the character, and in all sorts of frivolities and absurdities 
which justly lowers the female sex in the eyes of intelligent men. 
On the contrary, a woman who has learnt culture and work 
and is consequently in a position to exert a profitable activity in 
life, will keep aloof from such follies ; she will not be compelled 
to speculate only upon marriage and to give her hand to the 
first comer, often without affection, merely for the sake of being 
married ; if unmarried she will not feel unhappy through her 
whole life; and if married she will stand by the side of her hus- 
band in quite another fashion than hitherto. Hand in hand 
with him, not as his servant or as a friend entirely dependent 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 245 

upon him, but as his free and equal companion, she will pass 
with him through life, and be able in case of need, to take care 
of herself and her children even without him ; whilst, at pres- 
ent, as a general rule, the death of the provider throws the 
whole family into the always open arms of indigence. 

It is an extremely absurd and truly pedantic assertion, that 
culture and work strip the nimbus of womanhood from woman, 
and that intellectually developed and independent women are 
not capable of a true devotion to their husbands. The precise 
contrary to this is the truth, and there can certainly be no better 
means of elevating marriage and family-life in general than the 
emancipation of woman to work, acquisition and culture. The 
mere consciousness of being unable to support herself, and that 
she must be all her life long a burden upon her husband or her 
father, causes a feeling of depression in a woman, which is the 
greater in proportion as she is sensible and cultivated, and de- 
stroys that contentment which is so necessary to happy family- 
life. ' ' The pure twilight of home, ' ' so often referred to, in 
which alone true womanhood is supposed to thrive and which 
has been so keenly ridiculed by Fanny Lewald, is merely a 
great superstition, and is an anachronism in our time of univer- 
sal striving after freedom and light. If it were not so, ' ' the 
pure twilight of home ' ' in combination with ' ' true woman- 
hood ' ' would be best found in the harems of Turkish magnates ! 

With all this indeed it cannot and must not be denied that 
the majority of women will always and under all circumstances 
seek and find their true task in life in marriage and domestic, 
cares, although, as has been said, even the wife and mother 
will essentially improve her own position and that of her family 
by a greater amount of culture and independence. But because 
this is the case, shall all those women who do not reach this 
goal or do not wish to reach it, be forever depressed and con- 
demned to compulsory inactivity ? Shall genius and intelligence 
become of no consequence, merely because they happen to 



246 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

have taken up their abode in a female brain ? Shall talents and 
capabilities remain undeveloped merely because a woman 
possesses them ? and shall the impulse to activity and business 
be allowed to waste without benefit to mankind merely because 
they do not appear in the form of a man ? History teaches us 
incontestibly that there have been among women savants, ar- 
tists, politicians, &c. , as great as among men ; and if their num- 
ber is small in comparison with the men this is due in part to 
the natural destination of woman to a more limited sphere of 
activity, and in part to the want of freedom and equality, as 
also of the necessary previous cultivation. Even in the dissimi- 
lar education of the two sexes in youth there is an infinite in- 
justice and injury to the woman, to marriage and to the family 
which cannot afterwards be made good. A cultivated woman 
is as great a blessing to the house, as an uncultivated one may 
be a curse ! 

It is true that from the scientific or physiological side a 
weighty objection has been attempted to be raised against the 
cultivability of woman in comparison to that of man, by refer- 
ence to the fact that the brain of women is considerably inferior 
in size to that of man. This objection sounds curious enough 
in the mouth of those who in all other things reject the applica- 
tion of materialistic principles, but do not disdain them here, 
when they can make an advantageous use of them ; but as the 
fact itself is indubitable, we must accept the consequences de- 
duced from it, if these rest upon correct suppositions. This, 
however, is by no means the case. For in the first place, the 
smaller stature and weaker muscular development of women, as 
well as the smaller diameter of the nervous threads which con- 
verge in the central parts of the nervous system, quite naturally 
cause the total mass of the female brain to be comparatively 
smaller, without necessarily causing the development or energy 
of the parts of the brain devoted to the intellectual functions to 
suffer. In the second place, even if it could be demonstrated 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 247 

that these parts remain in their development behind those of 
man, this may just as well be ascribed to defective exercise and 
cultivation, as to an original deficiency. For it is well-known 
that every organ of the body, and, therefore, also the brain, 
requires for its full development, and consequently for the de- 
velopment of its complete capability of performance, exercise 
and persistent effort. That this is and has been the case for 
thousands of years in a far less degree in woman than in man, 
in consequence of her defective training and education, will be 
denied by no one. — Woman, therefore, should not be allowed 
to suffer under the consequences of a condition of things of 
which she is entirely innocent, — we should rather seek to cul- 
tivate her natural talents to such a degree and in such a manner 
that she may lose the taste for miserable gossip and finery, and 
find a pleasure in turning her mind to more serious and useful 
matters than hitherto. When once this has been effected we 
shall be in a position, without injury to the community, to con- 
fer upon women these political rights which the most advanced 
among them even now demand for their sex, and their posses- 
sion of which will place them with regard to their rights on a 
perfect equality with men. Finally, in confuting this objection 
a point must not be forgotten to which attention cannot be too 
often called, namely, that the estimation of the intellectual value 
of a brain depends not merely upon its size or material bulk, 
but equally, if not even more, upon its internal constitution and 
the finer development of its individual parts, and that it is per- 
fectly conceivable that the female brain as regards this fineness 
and in accordance with the greater fineness and delicacy of the 
female body generally, may exceed the male brain in the same 
proportion as the latter exceeds the female brain in its develop- 
ment in size. 

The greatest stumbling-block to men has probably been the 
requirement of equality in political rights on the part of women 
desirous of emancipation, and in fact under the circumstances 



248 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

which still prevail any such experiment must be rather hazard- 
ous and extremely dangerous to freedom and progress. Not 
that we would wish to say that women might not be good poli- 
ticians ! On the contrary, history teaches us most clearly that 
there have been almost as many good politicians among women, 
as bad ones among men. 

Even now in political (and other) respects, how many 
men are more effeminate and greater gossips than the women 
themselves, and would be more appropriately seated by 
the hearth or the spinning wheel than in the grave councils 
of the men ! And what comparison can be drawn between 
the political insight of a cultivated woman, acquainted with 
the necessities of her time, and that which may perhaps 
be possessed by a footman or a shoe-black, who has never- 
looked beyond the narrow circle of his humble daily oc- 
cupation ! 

And, nevertheless, this man possesses the suffrage, and 
by its means takes part in the settlement of the destiny of his 
nation, whilst the intelligent and highly cultivated woman is es- 
teemed incapable of exercising any such right ! But all this 
applies only in individual cases, and on the whole the still 
prevalent intellectual immaturity and want of discretion of the 
female sex, and especially its weakness in respect to religion, 
makes its complete political emancipation appear impracticable, 
until the indispensably necessary conditions of education and 
culture, or of uniformity in the advancement of the two sexes, 
shall have been fulfilled. Almost all experienced politicians 
agree that the immediate granting of the universal suffrage to 
women would be equivalent to a political and religious retro- 
gression, which would of course be even much less desired by 
free-thinking women, and especially by the female leaders of 
the movement, than by men of democratic opinions. Indeed 
one of our most prominent authoresses, the equally witty and 
thoughtful Fanny Lewald, has been led by this circumstance to 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 249 

declare herself against the extension of the suffrage to women 
at present, and to formulate the requirements of female emanci- 
pation as follows : 

' ' Instruction for the ignorant and lowly, and recognition for 
intellectually matured women !" — a formula to which the 
author adheres with all his heart !* 

* All this of course does not apply to the right of women to the suffrage in 
principle, which we maintain most decidedly, but only regard as practicable 
when women shall have attained a position of equality with men in life, culture 
and power of performance. Many opponents of the emancipation of woman 
have made the absurd objection, that with the exercise of universal suffrage 
women would also be compelled to do military service like men ; but they have 
not considered that in consistently following out this principle all weak or 
crippled men or in general all those not capable of military service ought to be 
deprived of the suffrage. In her own way and in proportion to her powers 
woman performs just the same if not greater services to the state than man, and 
must give up as a sacrifice to the war-god not only the sons whom she has borne 
and brought up to man's estate, but also her brothers and her husband, and 
undertake the care of those who are left behind. What unlimited sacrifices 
women are capable of during times of war, in the care of the sick, providing 
for the maintenance of the soldier, &c, as also in direct participation in the 
defence of their country and hearth, are too well-known to render more than 
this reference to them necessary. But this requirement appears most absurd 
when we consider that even among healthy men only a comparatively small 
number usually perform actual military service ; and that those especially 
who possess and exert the most political influence are precisely those who have 
never carried a gun ; whilst, on the other hand, the young men capable of bearing 
arms, who are usually recruited from the rural population, serve at a time when 
their age denies them any legal participation in the exertion of the general 
political rights. In time of war, as is well-known, every participation of the 
armies in the field in political matters entirely ceases. 



MARRIAGE. 

MARRIAGE, although it occurs also in animals (e. g., the 
Storks), is nevertheless in its present form and concep- 
tion essentially a product of human culture. It is therefore 
nothing rigid and unalterable, nothing given once for all by 
nature, but must change and advance with the increase of cul- 
ture. For our marriage of the present day this is all the more 
necessary, as in it the old principles of compulsion which for- 
merly ruled in state, church and society, are still fully repre- 
sented. For the progress of true humanity in the state and 
society scarcely any thing, however, can be more efficacious 
than the liberation of marriage from these narrowing bars, and 
its conversion into a proper relation of the two sexes, brought 
about by a free and unconstrained choice on both sides and de- 
pendent for its permanence upon the continuance of mutual 
rectitude and affection. In a certain sense it must be admitted 
that the whole physical and intellectual future of the human 
race depends more or less upon the future form of marriage. 
For although the union of the best with the best, as in Plato's 
ideal State, would not answer, the union of the most suitable 
with the most suitable will be the right method to produce the 
best possible race in the future. 

Darwin has already recognized what he calls sexual selection 
as a mainspring of progress in animals, and Prof. Haeckel does 
not hesitate to declare on the strength of his investigations, 
that the progress of the human race in history is in great part 

(250) 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 25 1 

the consequence of sexual selection, which is developed to a 
far greater extent in man than in animals. But it cannot well 
be disputed that this peculiar element, which has only been 
brought to light by Natural History, can unfold its entire and 
most important efficacy fully and unobstructedly only when the 
union of the sexes is really the consequence of a perfectly free 
choice, and of a full mutual agreement with mutual liking and 
internal satisfaction. In contrast to this our present conven- 
tional and constrained marriage, as is well known, only too 
frequently presents mutual discords and incurable dissatisfac- 
tion of the most repulsive character, which is most injurious to 
the progress of the race. Even the emancipation of woman 
that we have urged, and her freer and more independent position 
with regard to man, will constitute a necessary condition for a 
different form of marriage in the future, and the free love- 
choice, which has hitherto, contrary to all justice and reason, 
been allowed only to the man, must in future form equally a 
right of the maiden. The young woman, having become inde- 
pendent, will no longer find it necessary to allow herself to be 
treated like merchandise in the market, or under a half-com- 
pulsion to seize upon any marriage that may be offered to her 
merely to escape the melancholy state of spinsterhood ; but she 
will take the vows only when the married life seems to promise 
to her or her advisers greater happiness and greater satisfaction 
than the single one. The number of unhappy marriages, 
prejudicial to the progress of the race, which, unfortunately, is 
now so great, will then diminish, and that of the happy and bene- 
ficial ones will increase. But where, in spite of this, a disap- 
pointment may occur, the necessary facilitation of legal separa- 
tion will render impossible the repetition of those frightful 
domestic dramas, which nowadays, to the shame of humanity, 
are so often displayed before our courts of justice. From the 
individual horrors which attain publicity, we may judge of the 



252 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

many still greater horrors which are borne silently and patiently in 
concealment, from dread of public shame. Freedom, free-will 
and perfect reciprocity form the vital air in which alone happy 
marriages can thrive ; and this leads of necessity to the removal 
of all artificial obstacles which can be opposed either to the 
conclusion of marriages, or to the dissolution of those for which 
a just cause is shown. 

Among the most foolish contrivances of political wisdom or 
political stupidity are the obstacles which in many states are 
still opposed to marriages in the lower classes, especially the 
laboring classes, in fear of over-population or the increase of 
poverty, even leaving quite out of consideration the fact that it 
implies the greatest and hardest of all injustices to render the 
unmerited poverty of the individual still harder and more sen- 
sible by seeking to shut him off compulsorily from the most 
natural of human impulses, that of the propagation of his kind. 
By the increase of its numbers a people becomes not poorer 
but richer, especially where improved social arrangements 
make it possible for every one to lead an existence worthy of 
humanity ; and every new born human-being is a capital which 
benefits the whole by augmentation of the power both of work 
and of consumption. The less populated a district is, the 
poorer it also is and the more miserable is the condition of its 
inhabitants ; whilst, on the contrary, in the European civilized 
countries the general degree of prosperity has everywhere risen 
with a corresponding increase of the population. For there 
can be no doubt that by the increase of cultivation and its in- 
numerable aids, by increased division of labor and so forth, the 
general capability of subsistence increases in a much higher 
degree than the number of people ; and although it must be 
admitted that under normal conditions a certain limit to the 
number of the population cannot be overstepped, we are still 
very far from the attainment of this limit. Great famines occur 



WHERE ARE WE GOING t 253 

most readily in thinly peopled regions, or in such as have been 
depopulated by war, pestilence, &c. ; whilst the excess of 
means of nourishment is nowhere greater than in the enormous 
capitals of European states, in which millions of men live to- 
gether upon one spot. When the Spaniards conquered Ameri- 
ca they found that its population was decimated by frequent 
famines; — at the present day America furnishes abundant 
nourishment for a far greater number of inhabitants, and still 
possesses space and food enough for untold millions ! 



MORALS. 

THE only correct and tenable moral principle depends upon 
the relation of reciprocity. There is therefore no better 
guide to moral conduct than the old and well-known proverb : 
" What you would not have done to you, that to others never 
do." If we complete this proverb with the addition : " Do to 
others as you would they should do to you," we have the 
entire code of virtue and morals in hand, and indeed in a better 
and simpler form than could be furnished us by the thickest 
manuals of ethics, or the quintessence of all the religious sys- 
tems in the world. 

All other moral instructions whether . derived from the con- 
science, from religion, or from philosophy, are perfectly super- 
fluous in the presence of these simple and practical rules. Of 
course these rules must become more and more efficacious the 
higher the condition of reciprocity is developed by the greater 
advance of the social state, and the more the individual, by in- 
telligence and culture, is rendered capable of comprehending 
the objects of society and his personal relation thereto, and of 
arranging his conduct accordingly. It is therefore a generally 
recognized fact, and moreover sufficiently proved by history, that 
the idea of morality in general as in particular cases becomes 
further and more strongly developed in proportion as culture, 
intelligence and knowledge of the necessary laws of the com- 
mon weal increase, and that, in accordance with this, greater 
public order has always gone hand in hand with alleviation of 
the criminal laws. 

(254) 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 255 

As an individual, or as primitive man, man is entirely unac- 
quainted with morals, and blindly follows the impulses of the 
passions, the hunger, the cruelty, etc., which he has in common 
with the animals. His moral properties are only developed by 
living together with others in a society regulated by certain 
principles of reciprocity, and by the knowledge of the laws 
which are necessary for the existence of such a community. 
The innate conscience or law of morals which so many regard 
as the true determining principle in the actions of men, is noth- 
ing more than a great superstition, an " Infant-school morality," 
as the philosopher Schopenhauer so significantly expresses it. 
For the conscience is formed and developed only with the pro- 
gressive knowledge of the duties which the individual has to 
fulfill, or thinks he must fulfill towards imaginary supernatural 
powers (such as Gods, Heroes, etc.), towards his fellow-men, 
towards society, the state and so forth. This belief, however, 
is entirely dependent on the grade of general culture or knowl- 
edge at which a people or an individual may be at any given 
time, and is therefore variable according to time, place and cir- 
cumstances. Moses, the greatest teacher and leader of the 
Jewish people, felt no stings of conscience when he allowed 
three thousand of his people to be cut to pieces as a propitiatory 
offering to the Lord, but only feared .that they would not be 
sufficient, whilst nowadays such a proceeding would be regarded 
as inexpressibly horrible and brutal ; and the honored David, 
the darling of all theologians, when he conquered the city of 
Rabbah (2 Sam. XII. 31) "brought forth the people that 
were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of 
iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the 
brick-kiln : and thus did he unto all the cities of the children 
ofAmmon" — (cited in Radenhausen, Isis, Band II. p. 34). 
The Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Persians, etc., although be- 
longing to the civilized nations of antiquity were not deterred 
by their conscience from burning their own children alive or 



256 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

burying living innocent men ; and the Inquisitors of the Middle 
ages and their associates of earlier and later times believed that 
they were only fulfilling their duty in burning about nine mil- 
lions of people as witches and magicians in the course of eleven 
centuries, and making so many other innocent people suffer 
under the most horrible tortures. When the Roman emperors 
visited the newly formed Christian communities with the bloodi- 
est persecutions, they believed that they were doing good, and 
that their consciences were clear, just as much as the later 
Christians themselves when, after their doctrine had become 
victorious, they revisited all these persecutions and outrages in 
the most ample measure upon those who thought differently 
from themselves. The murderous wars of modern times also, 
arising frequently from the most inconsiderable causes, are gen- 
erally waged by people who feel not the smallest scruple as to 
the terrible death and misery of so many thousands caused by 
them, and who win- by them fame, honor and consideration, 
whilst in a future and happier time such proceedings will prob- 
ably be regarded as the gravest moral crimes. 

Conscience is therefore nothing established and innate, but 
rather something variable and acquired, or an expression of 
human knowledge which advances with knowledge itself. This 
advancing knowledge has caused the recognition of many 
things as innocent or permissible which formerly passed as 
grave sins, and on the other hand has converted many things 
into sins or crimes which formerly were not so regarded ; and 
hence also as is well known the ideas of good and evil present 
the greatest and most striking differences, nay even complete 
contradictions, at different times and among different peoples, 
all of which would be entirely impossible if the innate conscience 
of man were conferred upon him as an internal prescription 
binding him for all times. Conscience is also quite independent 
of the belief in God and of religious conceptions in general ; it 
changes little, if at all, in accordance with particular creeds, 



WHERE ARE WE GOING ? 257 

but merely accommodates itself to the knowledge or degree of 
culture of each individual. Hence also all apprehension that 
conscience may be lost with some determinate form of faith is 
entirely unfounded ; on the contrary, it must become sharpened 
and refined the more the general conscience of mankind is ele- 
vated by the advance of culture, and the more independent 
mankind becomes in thought and being of all merely external 
rules and dogmas. Indeed the men of the present day, although 
their attachment to definite rules of faith is far inferior to that 
of the men of former times, are in general much less inclined 
than formerly to crimes and acts of violence ! — and tolerance, 
pity, sense of the public good, respect for law, philanthropy, 
etc., have increased in the same proportion with knowledge, 
culture and prosperity ! Next to culture, happiness and pros- 
perity are the main sources of morality and virtue. Man must 
be happy in his general condition if he is to be virtuous, and all 
sins .and crimes go hand in hand with starvation, misery, dis- 
ease or idleness. If we add to this that moral qualities or ten- 
dencies are heritable, just as much as corporeal and intellectual 
tendencies in general, it must become clear that the whole 
moral progress of mankind is founded upon its constant social 
and intellectual change and advance, and that sin and crime 
will disappear from the world as soon as the springs of ignor- 
ance, want of culture and material misery, which still flow so 
abundantly, shall be stopped. 

Morality may therefore be defined as the law of mutual re- 
spect for the general and private equal rights of man, for the 
purpose of securing general human happiness. Every thing 
that injures or undermines this happiness and this respect is 
evil, — every thing that advances them is good. In accordance 
with this definition, evil consists only in degeneracy or the 
encroachment of human and private egotism upon this general 
happiness and the interests of the fellow man. What is bene- 
ficial to the community or to the fellow man is in general good ; 



258 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

and the notion of good only becomes converted into its oppo- 
site by the individual improperly placing the notion of that 
which is beneficial or advantageous to himself above the notion 
of that which is beneficial to the community or to another per- 
son of equal rights with himself. The greatest sinners therefore 
are egotists, or those who place their own / higher than the in- 
terests and laws of the common weal, and endeavor to satisfy it 
at the cost and to the injury of those possessing equal rights. 
This egotism in itself is indeed not objectionable, and really 
forms the final and highest spring of all our actions whether 
bador good.* Moreover we shall never be able to get rid of 
the egotism of human nature, and therefore all that we have to 
do is to turn it into the right paths or to render it rational and 
humane, by seeking to bring its satisfaction into accordance 
with the good of all and the interest of the community. And 
for this purpose there can be no better means than the reform 
of human society in the interest of the common weal proposed 
by us. For as soon as, by a proper organization of society, 
things have been brought to such a pass that the satisfaction 
of the personal / at the same time satisfies the interests of 
the community, and that vice versa the satisfaction of the gen- 
eral interests at the same time implies the satisfaction of the 
personal I, every conflict arising from egotistical motives be- 
tween the interests of the individual and those of the Society 
or of the State will cease, and the principal cause of crime 
and sin will be removed. The individual will then, much 
more easily than at present, be able to strive after personal 
happiness and agreeable sensations, or to satisfy his personal 
I, without injury to the interests of human society ; he will 
only advance his own well-being when he furthers that of 
the community, and will advance the well-being of the com- 
munity in advancing his own. 

In this accordance of the interests of the individual with the 

* See Appendix No. 52. 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 259 

interests of the community or of all others, therefore, lies the 
whole, great moral principle of the future. Let this accord- 
ance be once established and we have morality, virtue and 
noble sentiments in profusion. If not, these will be deficient 
in proportion as society falls short of this goal, and no exter- 
nal or internal means, no religion, no moral preachers, no crim- 
inal laws, will be able by any means permanently to make up 
for this deficiency. Public conscience is at the same time the 
conscience of the individual ; this public conscience can only be 
the consequence of rational political and social conditions and 
of an education and culture of all, founded on the principles of 
universal philanthrophy. It is in youth with its capability of 
education and culture and its ready accessibility to all external 
and internal impressions that the foundation for the culture of 
this conscience and therefore of all morality must be laid ; and 
it must be the highest task of public and general education to 
waken and strengthen in the young those impulses and talents 
which are good and beneficial to human society, and to weaken 
and suppress the bad and injurious ones. In this way a per- 
fectly new race with a different moral organization will gradually 
be produced ; and crime, sin, vice and the like will disappear 
in proportion as the soil shall become smaller upon which alone 
they can thrive ! 



RELIGION. 

THE less man knows of history, of nature, of philosophy 
and so forth, the more, when he has once begun to 
meditate upon himself and the phenomena surrounding him, 
does he feel induced to believe in unknown supernatural and 
superhuman influences, and to ascribe to them everything that 
appears to him mysterious in the life of nature and of man. 
Hence the more religious a man is, the less does he feel in 
himself the necessity for culture and knowledge ; and the 
ancient Hebrews therefore could not develop among them 
arts and sciences in the same way as the more free-thinking 
Greeks, because with them their God Jehovah supplied every- 
thing. Nations commenced with the crudest superstitions 
springing from a deficiency or entire absence of knowledge of 
the laws of nature, and have risen gradually and slowly from 
this to that knowledge which is destined hereafter to replace 
and render unnecessary every kind of religion. Those who see 
in such an abolition of religion or in a replacement of faith by 
knowledge, danger to morality and virtue and consequently to 
the state and to society, must be taught that morals and re- 
ligion, or faith and virtue, have originally and in principle 
nothing to do with each other, and have probably been com- 
mingled only in the course of history and for reasons of external 
expediency. For the higher we ascend in the history of re- 
ligion, the more do we find that the moral law and the priest- 
hood watching over its maintenance disappear from the scene, 

(260) 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 26l 

whilst their place is taken by dogma and external worship, or 
'ceremonies in honor of the Deity. 

The most recent investigations of Renan, Bournouf and others 
place it beyond a doubt that among the Aryan nations morality 
never was an integral or necessary ingredient in religion, but 
that in their ancient religions only two elements are to be met " 
with, namely, the idea of God and the ritual. This is also the 
case with the priesthood among the Aryans, whose original 
religious tendency was a decided pantheism ; whilst in opposi- 
tion to this the religious tendency of the Semites (from which 
Christianity has proceeded) was monotheism, and was under the 
charge of a powerful priesthood. In the whole Sanscrit language, 
the classical primitive language of the Aryan race of men, there 
is no single word which signifies ' ' to create ' ' in the sense of 
the Semitic or Christian dogma. Moreover, as Goethe has 
already shown, the celebrated Mosaic moral precepts, the so- 
called ten Commandments, were not upon the tables upon 
which Moses wrote the laws of the covenant which God made 
with his people. 

Even the extraordinary diversity of the many religions diffused 
over the surface of the earth suffices to show that they can stand 
in no necessary connection with morals, as it is well-known 
that wherever tolerably well-ordered political and social condi- 
tions exist, the moral precepts in their essential principles are 
the same, whilst when such conditions are wanting, a wild and 
irregular confusion or even an entire deficiency of moral notions 
is met with.* History also shows incontrovertibly that religion 
and morality have by no means gone hand in hand in strength 
and development, but that even contrariwise the most religious 
times and countries have produced the greatest number of 
crimes and sins against the laws of morality, and indeed, as 

* In China where people are, as is well-known, very indifferent or tolerant in 
religious matters, this fine proverb is current: — "Religions are various, but 
reason is one, and we are all brothers." 



262 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

daily experience teaches, still produce them. The history of 
nearly all religions is filled with such horrible abominations, 
massacres and boundless wickedness of every kind that at the 
mere recollection of them the heart of a philanthropist seems to 
stand still, and we turn with disgust and horror from a mental 
aberration which could produce such deeds. If it is urged in 
vindication of religion that it has advanced and elevated human 
civilization, even this merit appears very doubtful in presence 
of the facts of history, and at least as very rarely or isolatedly 
the case. In general, however, it cannot be denied that most 
systems of religions have proved rather inimical than friendly 
to civilization. For religion, as already stated, tolerates no 
doubt, no discussion, no contradiction, no investigations — those 
eternal pioneers of the future of science and intellect ! Even 
the simple circumstance, that our present state of culture has 
already long since left far behind it all and even the highest in- 
tellectual ideas established and elaborated by former religions, 
may show how little intellectual progress is influenced by re- 
ligion. Mankind is perpetually being thrown to and fro be- 
tween science and religion, but it advances more intellectually, 
morally and physically in proportion as it turns away from re- 
ligion and to science. 

It is therefore clear that for our present age and for the future, 
a foundation must be sought and found for culture and morality 
different from that which can be furnished to us by religion. It 
is not the fear of God that acts amelioratingly or ennoblingly 
upon manners, of which the middle ages furnish us with a 
striking proof ; but the ennobling of the conception of the world 
in general which goes hand in hand with the advance of civili- 
zation. Let us then give up making a show of the profession 
of hypocritical words of faith, the only purpose of which seems 
to be that they may be continually shown to be lies by the ac- 
tions and deeds of their professors ! The man of the future 
will feel far more happy and contented when he has not to con- 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 263 

tend at every step of his intellectual forward development with 
those tormenting contradictions between knowledge and faith 
which plague his youth, and occupy his mature age unnecessari- 
ly with the slow renunciation of the notions which he imbibed 
in his youth. What we sacrifice to God, we take away from 
mankind, and absorb a great part of his best intellectual powers 
in the pursuit of an unattainable goal. At any rate, the least 
that we can expect in this respect from the state and society of 
the future is a complete separation between ecclesiastical and 
worldly affairs, or an absolute emancipation of the State and 
the school from every ecclesiastical influence. Education must 
be founded upon knowledge, not upon faith ; and religion itself 
should be taught in the public schools only as religious history, 
and as an objective or scientific exposition of the different re- 
ligious systems prevailing among mankind. Any one who, 
after such an education, still experiences the need of a definite 
law or rule of faith may then attach himself to any religious 
sect that may seem good to him, but cannot claim that the 
community should bear the cost of this special fancy ! 

As regards Christianity, or the Paulinism* which is falsely 

* Jesus or Jeshua, called Christ, was not and did not desire to be the founder 
of a new religion and least of all of a world-religion, although millions and 
millions of men have regarded and still regard him as such. He was merely a 
Jewish religious reformer, and his original doctrine is neither more nor less than 
an improved and purified Judaism. His whole efforts were in the direction of 
the religious sect of the Essenes, from which he arose, and were directed to get 
rid of, or repress those externals which were then so highly valued and to render 
religion more internal. Moreover after the death of Jesus the first community of 
Christians still lived quite in the Jewish fashion, observed the Sabbath and the 
Jewish laws, practised circumcision and respected Jerusalem and the Temple. It 
was Saul of Tarsus, afterwards called Paul, originally the most zealous persecutor 
of the Jewish Christians, but afterwards converted, who first made out of Chris- 
tianity an opposition to Judaism and gave it great extension by his travels and 
indefatigable activity. Nevertheless the original pure doctrine was continued 
among the Jewish Christians as what is called Pet-rinism, which remained strictly 
faithful to the teachings of the master, but very soon came near its end with 
the fall of Judaism, and was completely suppressed by the gradually developing 
Paulinism or religion of the Gentile Christians, who hated and despised the Jews 
and their doctrine. This Paulinism speedily ruled the world. Paul is therefore 
the true founder of Christianity. (See for details the little work by R. W. Kunis : 
Vernunft und Offenbarung, Leipzig, 1870.) 



264 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

called Christianity, it stands, by its dogmatic portion or con- 
tents in such striking and irreconcilable, nay, absolutely absurd 
contradiction with all the acquisitions and principles of modern 
science that its future tragical fate can only be a question of 
time. But even its ethical contents or its moral principles are 
in no way essentially distinguished above those of other peo- 
ples, and were equally well and in part better known to man- 
kind even before its appearance. Not only in this respect, but 
also in its supposed character as the world-religioyfi it is ex- 
celled by the much older and probably most widely diffused 
religious system in the world, the celebrated Buddhism, which 
recognizes neither the idea of a personal God, nor that of a 
personal duration, and nevertheless teaches an extremely pure, 
amiable and even ascetic morality. The doctrine of Zoroaster 
or Zarathrustra also, 1800 years B. C, taught the principles of 
humanity and toleration for those of different modes of thinking 
in a manner and purity which were unknown to the Semitic 
religions and especially to Christianity. Christianity originated 
and spread as is well-known at the time of a general decline of 
manners, and of very great moral and national corruption ; and 
its extraordinary success must be partly explained by the prev- 

* Christianity is not a world-religion, although this is always estimated one of 
its chief merits. Thus, for example, it does not suit the East and makes no 
progress there at all, notwithstanding the greatest efforts of the missionaries, 
presenting in this a striking contrast to Islamism. The latter is constantly 
diffusing itself through Asia and Africa and is peculiarly a religion for nomadic 
and seminomadic tribes. Nearly half of Asia has gradually accepted Islamism, 
although no more can be said in its favor than in favor of Christianity as regards 
the advancement of civilization. The fathers of Islam themselves, the Arabs, are 
deeply depressed by it and have exchanged the former bravery, wisdom and noble 
or knightly sentiments of the pagan times for indolence and stolen enjoyments. 
Its character as a world-religion and its supposed preeminence over all religions 
is also belied by Christianity when, as in Persia, it is insinuated in isolated pro- 
fessors among other systems of culture and religion. Thus Count Gobineau 
reports, {Les Religions et les Philosophies de PAsia centrale, Paris, 1866,) that 
Christians in Persia, whether Catholics or schismatics and heretics, possess all 
the vices of the Mussulman and are distinguished from him only by greater 
ignorance, more superstition and a profound disclination for progress or for any 
mental effort. On the other hand freethinkers are numerous and cultivated in 
Persia. 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 265 

alence of a sort of intellectual and moral disease, which had 
overpowered the spirits of men after the fall of the ancient civil- 
ization and under the demoralizing influence of the gradual 
collapse of the great Roman empire. But even at that time 
those who stood intellectually high and looked deeply into 
things, recognized the whole danger of this new turn of mind, 
and it is very remarkable that the best and most benevolent of 
the Roman emperors, such as Marcus Aurelius, Julian, etc., 
were the most zealous persecutors of Christianity, whilst it was 
tolerated by the bad ones, such as Commodus, Heliogabalus, 
etc.* When it had gradually, attained the superiority, one of 
its first sins against the intellectual progress consisted in the 
destruction by Christian fanaticism of the celebrated Library of 
Alexandria, which contained all the intellectual treasures of an- 
tiquity, — an incalculable loss to science, which can never be 
replaced. It is usually asserted in praise of Christianity that in 
the middle ages the Christian monasteries were the preservers 
of science and literature, but even this is correct only in a very 
limited sense, since boundless ignorance and rudeness generally 
prevailed in the monasteries, and innumerable ecclesiastics could 
not even read. Valuable literary treasures on parchment con- 
tained in the libraries of the monasteries were destroyed, the 
monks when they wanted money selling the books as parch- 

* To the Romans, with their classical culture, the Jews and Christians appeared 
to be atheists ; for to imagine a simple Deity, incapable of being pictured or felt, 
seemed to them to be a denying of God or a dark doctrine deprived of God. 
The old idolatry was picturesque, full of life and beautiful, and its feasts were 
feasts of joy and sociability. The monotheistic religions, (Judaism, Christianity, 
Islam,) are generally zelotic and intolerant and therefore inimical to progress, 
culture and the sciences ; whilst in paganism and polytheism there is an infinite 
expansiveness and tolerance. The Greeks and Romans saw in the Deities of 
other peoples only their own over again, and therefore never thought of religious 
persecution. Nevertheless it cannot be denied that in a special religious point of 
view Christianity must be regarded as an advance upon heathendom with its 
absurd sacrificial services, inasmuch as it rendered the belief in God more internal 
and intellectual. But the crude. sensualistic conception, which soon overpowered 
Christianity in the course of its historical development, renders even this merit 
doubtful, and certainly gives its defenders no right to declaim against scientific 
materialism. 



266 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

ment, or tearing out the leaves and writing psalms upon them. 
Frequently they entirely effaced the ancient classics, to make 
room for their foolish legends and homilies ; nay, the reading 
of the classics, such as Aristotle for example, was directly for- 
bidden by papal decrees. 

In New Spain christian fanaticism immediately destroyed 
whatever of arts and civilization existed among the natives, 
and that this was not inconsiderable is shown by the numerous 
monuments now in ruins which place beyond a doubt the for- 
mer existence of a tolerably high degree of culture. But in the 
place of this not a trace of Christian civilization is now to be 
observed among the existing Indians, and the resident catholic 
clergy keep the Indians purposely in a state of the greatest 
ignorance and stupidity (see Richthofen, Die Zustcsnde der Re- 
public Mexico, Berlin, 1854). 

Thus Christianity has always acted consistently in accordance 
with the principles of one of the fathers of the Church, Tertul- 
lian, who says : " Desire of knowledge is no longer necessary 
since Jesus Christ, nor is investigation necessary since the 
Gospel." If the civilization of the European and especially of 
Christian nations has notwithstanding made such enormous 
progress in the course of centuries, an unprejudiced considera- 
tion of history can only tell us that this has taken place not by 
means of Christianity, but in spite of it. And this is a sufficient 
indication to what an extent this civilization must still be ca- 
pable of development when once it shall be completely freed 
from the narrow bounds of old superstitions and religious em- 
barrassments ! 



PHILOSOPHY. 

JUST as the religions of the past have become out of date in 
our time, so also in no less degree has the true or specu- 
lative philosophy, which has unfortunately, especially in Ger- 
many, so long exerted an injurious influence upon the minds 
of men, and one prejudicial to the true, free spirit of inquiry. 
Its play with half-clear, obscure or perfectly meaningless words 
or phrases has gradually caused it to be detested by the edu- 
cated,* and the belief in its formulas and predictions has disap- 
peared in the same measure that the spirit of inquiry has become 
clearer, more thirsty for knowledge and more candid. We are 
now no longer inclined to take appearance for being, words for 
acts, or imagination for reality ; and have perceived that it is 
only in scientific observation and in facts that we can seek and 
find a firm footing for philosophical theories. ' ' The empty 
twaddle of Sein and Nichts, " as B. Suhle (A. Schopenhauer 
and the Philosophy of the present day) admirably designates 
that so-called dialectic method of the philosophers by profes- 
sion which was dominant in the first half of the present century, 
and attained its climax in the great Hegel, — that " Deluge of 
words poured over a desert of ideas " as Helvetius so suitably 
described the results of the scholastic philosophy of the middle 

* Since the times of Scholasticism, nay properly speaking since the times of 
Plato and Aristotle, philosophy has been for the most part as Schopenhauer 
admirably expresses it a continual misapplication of general ideas carried too far, 
such as "substance," "basis," "cause," "the good," "being," "becoming," etc, 
etc., and has thus gradually sunk into a mere affair of words. 

(267) 



268 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

ages which is still far from being extinct, no longer imposes 
upon us ; we have looked behind the veil of the mystery and 
found nothing there except the effete skeleton of philosophical 
emptiness of spirit and thought, clothed with the motley rags 
of a philosophical terminology or mode of expression. There 
is not now and never was or will be a possibility of enlarging 
human knowledge beyond experience, or human philosophy 
beyond the conclusions drawn from experience. 

The lofty intellectual flights of the professors of Philosophy, 
which have hitherto been universally esteemed as the highest, 
are therefore simply absurd, and the air of superiority of the 
philosophical metaphysicians reminds one of the proverb : 
"From the sublime to the ridiculous there is but a step" 
(Suhle). All deductions from the transcendental, or from 
what flies beyond observation, are illogical ; there is no such 
thing as the so-called transcendental science nor are there any 
causeless causes : hence the search of the philosophers after a 
first or supreme cause is entirely futile. Causal connection or 
the relation of cause and effect has neither beginning nor end. 
The necessary consequence of a First cause is the irrational as- 
sumption, equally contradictory to logic and observation, that 
the history of existence must consist of two different or separated 
parts, the first of which would be change without causality and 
the second change with causality. Every thing in the world is 
necessarily and normally connected, an opinion, the stability of 
which, however, we are in a position to demonstrate directly 
only in a number of cases in the aclual world. Hence our 
knowledge is fragmentary and not only capable of but actually 
calling for improvement and completion ; whilst the philosophi- 
cal error seeks to parade before us " unlimited knowledge." 
We must therefore endeavor to form convictions which are not 
to stand once and for all, as philosophers and theologians usu- 
ally do, but such as may change and become improved with 
the advance of knowledge. Whoever does not recognize this 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 269 

and gives himself up once for all to a belief which he regards as 
final truth, whether it be of a theological or philosophical kind, 
is of course incapable of accepting a conviction supported upon 
scientific grounds. Unfortunately our whole education is 
founded upon an early systematic curbing and fettering of the 
intellect in the direction of dogmatic (philosophical or theologi- 
cal) doctrines of faith, and only a comparatively small number 
of strong minds succeed in after years in freeing themselves by 
their own powers from these fetters, whilst the majority remain 
captive in the accustomed bonds, and form their judgment in 
accordance with the celebrated saying of Bishop Berkeley : 
' ' Few men think ; but all will have opinions ! ' ' Hence the 
numerous distorted or condemnatory opinions expressed as to 
recent advances in science, although the latter may be as clear 
as the sun and as indisputable as truth itself ! Great philoso- 
phers have called death the fundamental cause of all philosophy. 
If this be correct, the empirical or experimental philosophy of 
the present day has solved the greatest of philosophical enig- 
mas? and shown (both logically and empirically) that there is 
no death, and that the great mystery of existence consists in 
perpetual and uninterrupted change. Every thing is immortal 
and indestructible, — the smallest worm as well as the most 
enormous of the celestial bodies, — the sandgrain or the water- 
drop as well as the highest being in creation — man and his 
thoughts. Only the forms in which being manifests itself are 
changing ; but Being itself remains eternally the same and im- 
perishable. When we die we do not lose ourselves, but only 
our personal consciousness or the casual form which our being, 
in itself eternal and imperishable, had assumed for a short 
time ; we live on in nature, in our race, in our children, in our 
descendants, in our deeds, in our thoughts, — in short, in the 
entire material and psychical contribution which, during our 
short personal existence, we have furnished to the subsistence 
of mankind and of nature in general. ' ' Humanity, ' ' says 



270 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

Radenhausen (Iszs, Band III., p. 121), "persists and flows on 
although the individual disappears after a short course of life ; 
but neither his life, nor that of the water-drop is lost. For just 
as the latter could not complete its circulation without dissolving 
or superinducing the combinations of other matters, so every 
man leaves the traces of his existence behind him in what he 
separated or brought into new combinations, in the contribution 
to the culture treasure of humanity, which is furnished by every 
human life, from the least to the greatest. ' ' 

Where are the dead ? asks Schopenhauer ; and he answers : 
They are with us ! In spite of death and corruption we are 
still all together ! 



Drum streitet, Thoren, ferner nicht, 
Ob Ihr im Geist unsterblich seid ! 
Derm keines Todes Macht zerbricht 
Der Dinge Unverganglichkeit, 
Die Alles was da ist und lebt, 
In einem ew'gen Kreise fiihrt 
Und, wo sie zur Vernichtung strebt, 
Die Flammen neuen Lebens schiirt ! 
Unsterblich ist der kleinste Wurm, 
Unsterblich auch des Menschen Geist, 
Den jeder neue Todessturm 
In immer neue Bahnen reisst ! 
So lebet Ihr, gestorben auch, 
In kiinftigen Geschlechtern fort, 
Und dieser ewige Gebrauch 
Verwechselt nichts als Zeit und Ort ! 



Just as no single atom or smallest conceivable particle of 
matter can disappear or be destroyed in the life of nature in 
general, so not the smallest deed or most insignificant thought 
of a man can perish or be lost in the general life of mankind. 
For both propagate themselves in unending sequence, by virtue 
of the impulse given by them, just as the oscillations of the 
surface of a piece of water produced by a falling stone vibrate 



WHERE ARE WE GOING? 27 1 

onwards in constantly larger and weaker circles. And although 
this movement itself must by degrees be lost or come to rest 
just like these oscillations, it has in the meanwhile set free a 
certain number of other (physical or intellectual) movements, 
which on their part renew and continue the same action. Thus 
the life of the individual is at the same time the life of humanity, 
and the life of humanity that of the individual ! Whoever can- 
not or will not allow this great truth to suffice for him, whoever 
is unable to find in it a sufficient impulse to virtue and honesty, 
will also be incapable of being kept permanently in the right 
path by any external force or agency. Neither philosophical 
nor religious creeds are capable of furnishing even distantly an 
equivalent for it, or of replacing by means of their mixed ego- 
tistical and imaginary motives that firm moral position which 
the individual must attain by the recognition of the imperish- 
ableness of his being in connection with humanity at large. 



MATERIALISM AND IDEALISM. 

MATERIALISM and idealism are usually regarded as ab- 
solute opposites. Materialism is represented as a miser- 
able, comfortless, hopeless, sad and empty theory, only fit for 
hypochondriacs, misanthropes or pure rationalists ; whilst in 
opposition to this the so-called idealism professes to satisfy the 
higher intellectual and spiritual necessities of man and to raise 
him, by a higher conception of the world and of life, above the 
deficiencies and nothingnesses of this earthly life. In truth, 
however, this is so incorrect that the Materialism of Science 
may rather with perfect justice be described as the highest 
idealism of life. For (and the author has already elsewhere 
discused this more in detail) the more we free ourselves from 
all delusive imaginations of a world above us and outside of us, 
or of a so-called Future, the more do we find ourselves naturally 
directed with all our forces and endeavors to the present, or to 
the world in which we are living, and feel the necessity of ar- 
ranging this world and our life as beautifully and advanta- 
geously as possible both for the individual and for the whole. It 
is clear that thus a perfectly immeasurable field of exertion and 
action is opened up for the idealism or the idealistic striving of 
human nature, — a field, it is true, which no longer lies beyond 
the stars, but under our feet, and sets reality in place of imagina- 
tion. There are consequently no more zealous pioneers of 
progress, no greater friends of freedom and no more spirited 
defenders of the general equality of mankind in rights and hap- 
piness than the materialists and free-thinkers. Their faith (for 

(272) 



WHERE ARE WE GOING ? 273 

even the materialists have a faith) is that man is better than he 
seems, that he can do more than he thinks, and that he de- 
serves to be happier than he is. Heaven and hell, those pri- 
meval bugbears of spiritual despotism, exist also for the ma- 
terialist ; but he seeks and finds them, not, as of old, outside 
of man, but within him, and shows that it depends solely upon 
man himself and his conduct, whether he shall have a heaven 
or a hell upon earth ! 

This striving for human perfection, or for earthly improve- 
ment and felicity, has given rise to the further objection to ma- 
terialism, that its sole object is sensual satisfaction and enjoy- 
ment, and that therefore, in the satisfaction of the mere animal 
impulses, it neglects the higher spiritual needs of man, the in- 
terests of his soul. This objection rests upon so absurd and 
evident a confusion of scientific or theoretical materialism, with 
practical materialism or the materialism of life, that it scarcely 
deserves serious refutation. The materialism of science and 
the materialism of life are things which differ toto coelo, and 
which can be confounded with each other only by malevolence 
or incompetency. Whoever sacrifices his life to investigation, 
his personal interest to the truth, and the force of his activity 
to the improvement of the lot of humanity, has no leisure to 
run after sensual enjoyments, and is in reality a far greater 
idealist than those who find in their idealism a means of ob- 
taining great offices, fat livings, rich salaries or brilliant dis- 
tinctions. But even should materialism, when more widely 
diffused among mankind, contribute (except among its scientific 
supporters) to strengthen the striving after the enjoyments of 
this world, which indeed is already sufficiently strong, this could 
only be greeted with satisfaction in the interests of progress, — 
always supposing that the kind of enjoyment was such, in the 
sense of the scientifico-materialistic conception of the universe, 
as did not merely satisfy the gross and animal impulses, but at 
the same time acted ennoblingly upon the body and mind. 



274 MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 

By this means we should again approach that cheerful and joy- 
ous conception of the Universe which was held by classical an- 
tiquity, from which we have been unfortunately carried far away 
by monkery and ecclesiastical greed of power ; and those in- 
numerable and immense aids to civilization, which we have and 
the ancients did not possess, would incalculably facilitate, in- 
crease and ennoble our enjoyments. 

All this shows that materialism and idealism are not, as so 
many suppose, born enemies, but that at the bottom they are 
only different expressions for one and the same thing. In 
theory, materialism far exceeds the old idealistic philosophy in 
ideal value, inasmuch as it does not, like the latter, assume a 
multitude of observational facts as inexplicable, and therefore 
deduce them from supernatural or innate causes (e. g., the 
mind), but it goes to the bottom of things and seeks to embrace 
their most intimate and final connection. In practice it exceeds 
all other systems and conceptions of the universe by setting the 
ideal world within us in place of the ideal world without us, and 
endeavors to guide it towards realization. No other philosophy 
has ever stood like this in the closest connection with life itself; 
and the best touchstone of its value and correctness will be 
found in the influence which it has already exerted and will yet 
exert upon life and its forms. Just as its theory is simple, 
unitary, clear and definite, so also is its practical tendency ; 
and its whole programme with regard to the future of man and 
of the human race may be expressed in six words, which con- 
tain all that can be theoretically or practically required for this 
future, namely : 

FREEDOM, CULTURE AND PROSPERITY FOR ALL. 



APPENDIX. 



NOTES, EXPLANATIONS AND ADDITIONS. 



(i.) Formerly it was supposed that the past of our earth was clearly separated 
from its present , and it was imagined that the earth and its course of formation 
had now entered upon a period of rest or of exhaustion, or complete equilibrium 
of forces, whilst previously great revolutions and catastrophes, terrible changes 
with periodical destructions of all organized being had taken place. These two 
periods of the past and present were then thought to be separated by a great 
waterflood or "Deluge," which occurred not long before the commencement of 
historical chronology and destroyed all the then existing organic creation, and 
this at once. The expression "primitive world," (Vorwelt) or "antediluvian," 
( Vorwelt Itch) is therefore synonymous with the expression ' ' Anterior to the sin- 
flood," iporsilndfluthlich) , which is still so frequently employed. But it may be 
remarked in passing that the word "sin-flood" (Silndflittli) is of quite incorrect 
formation' and leads to the false belief that this flood was intended to destroy 
"sinful" men. But the word really lying at the root of the word " Silndfluth" 
is the old German '•'■sin" or "sint," which signifies great, mighty or of long dura- 
tion, and therefore it expresses only the idea of a great or enormous deluge. The 
only correct orthography is therefore " Sintfluth." 

This entire conception is geologically incorrect. It is indeed probable that, 
especially at the cessation of the so-called " glacial period " (a subdivision of the 
quaternary epoch), certain great floods may have taken place, but no one such as 
could have produced a simultaneous submergence of the entire surface of the 
earth. These floods, moreover, were not produced by a single rapid catastrophe, 
but by many processes following one upon another, and in long periods of time. 
The powerful animals of the period in question became extinct quite gradually 
and not all at once, and there is consequently no decided division between the 
past and present, between the so-called antediluvian and postdiluvian times. 
In fact we only know of gradual transitions in an uninterrupted chain of geologi- 
cal phenomena. Even at the present day the same essential processes and forces 
are at work in the formation of the earth's surface, as in former times. Never- 
theless there does exist a great difference between then and now, inasmuch as at 
the diluvial period we meet with essentially changed conditions, such as a different 
form of the surface of the earth, a different and higher course for the rivers, a 
different proportion of land and water, a difference in the deposits formed and 
above all a totally different fauna and flora, among which are especially to be 
noted the characteristic diluvial animals already mentioned. 

(277) 



278 ■ APPENDIX. 

The Diluvium is followed immediately by the so-called Alluvium, which consists 
of the deposits of the existing rivers on their banks or at their openings into the 
sea. This period presupposes essentially the same conditions of the surface of 
the earth that now exist, and especially a fauna and flora perfectly similar to those 
now living. There is no clear boundary line between the two periods, but they 
pass gradually into one another. We may therefore still further employ the 
often used expression ' ' antediluvian " {vorweltlich or vorsiindfluthlich) , taking it as 
synonymous with the still more frequently employed denomination "fossil" or 
"petrified," but we must at the same time carefully avoid connecting with it an 
erroneous idea belonging to former geological theories. Taken in this sense 
therefore, as stated in the text, the discovery of Aurignac gives evidence of the 
antediluvian, {porweltliche or vorsiindflut hliche) , existence of man, who evidently 
lived at that spot contemporaneously with the extinct animals of that period. 
This result completely annihilates the notion, formerly universally regarded as 
correct, that man only made his appearance upon the earth during the period of 
the alluvium. 

However, nearly all the tribes of the earth have the tradition of a great deluge 
(Sundftuth), which destroyed the greater number of living creatures, only leaving 
a few from which all subsequent races are descended ; and from this circumstance 
it has been supposed that the actual wiiversality of this great deluge might be 
deduced. The Catholic Church which was at first inclined to set up the univer- 
sality of the deluge as an article of faith, finally in 1686 decided in favor of the 
opposite view and left opinion upon this point free, in consequence of a report 
from the French Benedictine Ma hi lion-, 

(2.) The best known case of this kind is the celebrated or notorious Homo 
diluvii testis or Antediluvian Man of Professor Scheuchzer of Zurich. Professor 
Scheuchzer in 1726 discovered in a celebrated fossiliferous deposit near Oenmgen 
in Baden, a completely fossilized skeleton which he regarded as the remains of a 
child of four years old (Andrias Scheuchzeri), and which inspired a theologian of 
the period with the celebrated verses : 

" Betriibtes Beingeriist von einem armen Sunder, 
Erweiche Herz und Sinn der neuen Bosheitskinder, &c." 

Subsequently it proved to be the skeleton of a gigantic Salamander. 

Another very amusing affair of the same kind took place in 1616. Near Chau- 
mont in the south of France, the bones of a Mammoth or antediluvian Elephant 
were dug out, and these were declared by a speculative doctor, named Mazurier, 
to be the petrified remains of the celebrated Cimbrian King, Teutobochus Rex, 
who was taken prisoner by Marius in the great battle of Aquae Sextiae, (Aix), in 
the year 102 B. C, and of whom tradition says that he was so large that he over- 
looked the standards of the army, and that he had jumped over six horses at once. 
Mazurier exhibited the bones for money and obtained considerable sums, until at 
last after the publication of several learned treatises and after many learned dis- 
cussions the fraud was brought to light. This and similar discoveries may have 
aided in producing the belief in the former existence of a race of human giants 
which was once so widely spread. In the same way the remains of a Hippopota- 
mus dug up in Sicily were long regarded as the bones of one of those heaven- 
storming giants which play so prominent a part in the Greek Mythology. 



APPENDIX. 279 

(3.) A more recent discovery exactly similar to this is described in the memoir 
entitled, Note sur la decouverte d' Ossements fossiles humains dans le Lehm de 
la vallie du Rhin, etc., (Colmar, 1867.) In the year 1865 human bones were found 
in the Loess of the Rhine at Eguisheim, near Colmar (Alsace), with all the indica- 
tions of fossilization and in the same bed with bones of extinct animals, (Mammoth, 
Horse, Stag, Aurochs, etc.) The results at which the author, (Dr. Faudel), arrives, 
after a thorough examination of the case, are as follows : 

1. The bed in question is undoubtedly Alpine Loam of the Rhine valley, (i. e. 
Loess.) 

2. In this undisturbed soil contemporaneous fossil bones of animals and human 
remains were found. 

3. Both have undergone the same changes of tissue and composition, and both 
occurred under absolutely the same circumstances. 

4. Hence we may conclude that man lived in Alsace at the time when the 
Alpine loam was deposited, and contemporaneously with animals of the Quater- 
nary epoch, such as the Gigantic Deer, the Bison, the Mammoth, etc. As regards 
the human bones in particular, they consisted of two fragments of the skull, and 
showed a depressed forehead, strongly projecting superciliary arches, and a type 
on the whole approaching the so-called dolichocephalic or long-headed form, — 
consequently a great resemblance to the celebrated Neanderthal skull. 

A very accurate chemical investigation and comparison of the bones of man and 
animals here found, undertaken by M. Scheurer-Kestner, led to the general result 
that ''from a chemical point of view the contemporaneity of man with the extinct 
species of animals must be regarded as proved." 

(4.)This locality is particularly remarkable because it has enabled us to recognize 
a regular superposition of three distinct phases of civilization. It is a cone con- 
sisting of sand, gravel and rolled pebbles which the little river Tiniere has 
gradually deposited at its opening into the Lake of Geneva, and has been cut 
through for a length of 133 meters and to a depth of about 7 metres or 23. feet by 
the railway. This cutting has laid open three layers of civilization (Cultur- 
schichten.) The uppermost, a layer of 4-6 inches in thickness at a depth of four 
feet, contained ancient Roman tiles and coins, and must therefore be referredsto 
the time of the Roman occupation. In the next layer, 6 inches in thickness and 
at a depth of 10 feet, there were distinct traces of the so-called Bronze-period ; 
and third and last layer, 6-7 inches thick and at a depth of 19 feet, contained rude 
pottery, fractured bones of animals, wood charcoal, &c, — and may therefore be 
assigned to the last divisions of the so-called Stone-period. The three layers were 
separated by deposits of rubbish, and the whole appeared so regular, that it could 
not be regarded as having been brought together by a stream, but by a slow and 
regular process of deposition. From the relative thickness of the deposits, and 
the historical datum of the Roman time, Morlot calculates for the bronze-layer an 
approximate age of 3-4000 years, and for the stone-layer an age of 4-7000 years, 
whilst the deposition of the entire cone must have required a period of 10,000 
years. 

These estimates, however, have lately had some doubts thrown upon them by an 
American savant, Professor Andrews of Chicago, who has reduced them, by his 
own calculations, more than one half ; whether with justice the future must 
decide. 



28o APPENDIX. 

I must, remark however, that, as stated by Carl Vogt, (Vorlesungen ilber den 
Mensclien), a human skeleton was found in the stone-layer of the cone under con- 
sideration, and that its "very round, very small, and very thick skull had the 
type of a Mongolian brachycephalan." Unfortunately Vogt could ascertain 
nothing further about this skull. 

(5.) In the winter of 1853-54, by taking advantage of a very low level of the water 
in the lake of Zurich, Dr. Keller discovered the first traces of the lake-dwellings 
or pile-buildings, which have since been found in so many places and become so 
famous. They have been detected in great abundance in nearly all the lakes of 
Switzerland, and also in the Bavarian and North-Italian lakes, in the peat-bogs 
of Mecklenburg and Pomerania, the remains of former lakes, &c. Within his- 
torical times Herodotus and Hippocrates mention certain tribes in Thrace and on 
the river Phasis who dwelt in pile-villages. This was 23 centuries ago ; but even 
at the present day many savage tribes still live in similar settlements, such as were 
met with and represented by Dumont d'Urville in his voyage of discovery to New 
Guinea. Moritz Wagner also makes a similar report in his journey to Colchis and 
the country of the Caucasus. Incredible quantities of bones, remains of food, 
and articles of human industry of all kin. s, which have been found in the bottoms 
of the lakes beneath the former dwellings and amongst the piles, generally in a 
very good state of preservation, have enabled students to sketch a tolerably 
distinct picture of the life and doings of the ancient inhabitants of the pile-build- 
ings, of which details may be found in the numerous reports and memoirs of 
Keller, Rtitimeyer, Troyon, Messikomer, Heer, Desor, Lisch, Lyell, Vogt, Virchow 
and others. Many pile-buildings, especially those of the bronze-period, are so 
large that no fewer than 100,000 piles have been found driven close together at a 
certain distance from the shore ; and their number is so great that in the Swiss 
lakes we already know far more than 200, and in the Neuenburg lake alone 46 
such lake-stations. The object of the pile-buildings was evidently the protection 
of the inhabitants from wild animals, the attacks of . enemies, &c, besides the 
ready obtaining of food by fishing. The inhabitants of the pile-dwellings appear, 
however, to have been cannibals ; at least the human bones which have been 
found scorched, broken and, apparently, gnawed by human teeth, are in favor of 
this opinion. 

As regards the antiquity of the pile-dwellings they seem certainly to have existed 
for a very long time, as we find in them remains of the stone, bronze, and iron- 
periods, sometimes separate, sometimes intermixed. But however ancient even 
the oldest of them may be, they all belong to the alluvial period, and probably 
their last offshoots extend far down into the historical period. Many pile-buildings 
may have been inhabited down to the time of the Romans, and the most recent 
dredging operations in the bed of the Rhine near Mayence have even furnished 
evidence that Roman colonists on the Rhine dwelt in pile-villages. At any rate 
the pile-buildings furnish a proof of what is most important for our present pur- 
pose, namely, that thousands of years before the historical period, the human race 
had already acquired so high a degree of civilization as to be able to erect such 
dwelling places as these, with all things belonging to them. 

(6.) The Danish peat-bogs, which have been chiefly investigated by Steenstrup, 
are very rich in bones and remains of human activity ; we might almost say, with 



APPENDIX. 28l 

Steenstrup, that there is scarcely a square yard of them that does not furnish 
proofs of the existence of prehistoric man. Their depth amounts to from 10 to 40 
feet or even more, although the peat grows so slowly that old peat-diggers deny 
its increase because they have been unable to observe it during their lives. To 
form a layer of peat of 10 to 20 feet in thickness takes, according to Steenstrup, 
at least 4000 years, and perhaps even from three to four times this period. Now 
according to the species of trees the remains of which are found in the peat-bogs, 
three periods of peat-deposition in Denmark have been distinguished, and these 
are designated the periods of the fir, oak and beech. The lowermost, the Scotch 
Fir, (Pinus sylvestris), indicates the most ancient period ; this is very old, as this 
tree never was indigenous in the Danish islands in historical times, and must have 
become extinct there time out of mind. This was followed by the Oak, which 
has also been for a very long time extinct in Denmark, and has given place to the 
Beech, the true, historical tree of that country. Now even in the lowest deposit, 
among the trunks of the Firs, traces of man have been met with in the form of 
worked flints and bones ; whilst in the superjacent layers of the Oak-period imple- 
ments of bronze have occurred and in the uppermost or Beech-layers implements, 
weapons and coins of iron, and even indications of the Roman invasion. The 
historical period consequently belongs only to the last of the three periods, or the 
Beech-period. 

That there must be a certain parallelism in time between the Danish Fir-period 
and the formation of the Kjoikenmoddings is shown by the fact that in the latter 
the bones of the Capercailzie, which feeds in spring upon the young shoots of the 
Fir, have been met with. Human bones of that time have also been found in the 
peat-bogs and in tumuli ; the skulls are narrow and round and have a projecting 
ridge above the eyebrows, so that the ancient race was small and roundheaded, 
with overhanging eyebrows, and thus possessed a great resemblance to the existing 
Laplanders, who are probably a remnant of this primitive population of the north. 
Their place is taken during the iron age by a perfectly different type with an 
elongated, oval head and of far more powerful structure. This is the case also 
with the dog, which was smallest and weakest in the stone-age and strongest in 
the iron-age. 

(7.) In the thirteenth century the expression "giants' graves" or "giants' 
mounds," first makes its appearance, and certainly many of these immense 
burying places which were scattered in the solitude of vast forests and moors, and 
are now for the most part destroyed by agricultural and roadmaking operations, 
fully deserved that name. Constructed of immense blocks and masses of stone, 
they were either placed upon natural hills, or artificially elevated into hills, which 
were afterwards planted with great trees. In the interior of the sepulchres, com- 
posed of huge, rough slabs of stone, objects of the stone, bronze and iron-ages 
have been found, but bronze objects greatly predominate. On the Island of 
Schoncii near Kivik a gigantic grave of this kind was met with, in which the 
drawings made upon the sandstone slabs enclosing the grave left no doubt that at 
this place human sacrifices were offered to the Sungod ! 

The northern antiquaries are of opinion that these giants' graves are the pro- 
ductions of that Lappo-Finnish race which inhabited the whole of Northern 
Europe, before the immigration of the Scandinavio-Germanic races, and were 



282 APPENDIX. 

driven back by this immigration to the extreme north where it still leads an 
indigent nomadic life. 

Still older than the so-called "giants' graves," are the Dolmens or stone tables 
(also called Cromlecks or Menhirs), very ancient stone edifices, which have been 
found especially well-represented in Brittany. They consist of upright stones 
covered with slabs laid transversely upon them and are reproduced, more or less 
numerously in almost all the countries bordering the Mediterranean. Under 
some of these remarkable monuments, corpse-chambers containing abundant 
treasures of objects of art and human remains have been found. The earthen 
vessels found stand on a much higher technical ground than the vessels from the 
Swiss pile buildings. With regard to the purpose of these edifices and the nature 
of their builders we have as yet nothing but suppositions. One of the grandest 
and most enigmatical of these monuments is the celebrated Stonehenge. 

Moreover, according to a communication made by Dr. Hooker, to the Meeting 
of the British Association in the year 1S68, the Khasias of eastern Bengal even at 
the present day erect similar dolmens or stone-tables, merely with the aid of levers 
and ropes. (See Globus, vol. xiv, part 4.) See also with regard to this subject 
The Transactions of the International Congress for Archaio- Anthropology for 
the year i86y, — o?i Megalithic Monuments. According to a report there published 
by M. Bertrand, the stone-monuments are graves and belong for the most part 
to the third Stone-age, or the age of polished stones. 

(8.) About the middle of the great tertiary epoch a tropical climate and tropical 
fauna and flora spread over the whole of Europe even into high northern lati- 
tudes, — Palms, Cedars, Laurels and Cinnamon trees and other tropical plants 
had flourished for example in the valleys of Switzerland; and more than thirty, 
different oaks with evergreen leaves adorned the forests of that time, — Crocodiles 
had lived in our rivers, and Tapirs, Mastodons, Mammoths, Rhinoceroses, &c, 
in the forests ; — but towards the end of the tertiary period the temperature fell 
over the northern hemisphere, Europe began to assume a different form, and in 
consequence of the gradually changing physical influences the southern character 
of the fauna and flora disappeared, to give place finally, during the so-called 
glacial epoch, to a perfectly arctic or northern assemblage of animals and plants. 
Both in the north and in the south of Europe enormous glaciers were formed, 
their starting points being the high mountains ; and these, either directly or by 
means of drift-ice, scattered gigantic fragments of rock torn from the Alpine 
heights over the low lands. Once, however, during the quaternary epoch, a 
retrogression of these great glaciers took place, for which reason geologists dis- 
tinguish a first and a second glacial epoch, separated by an interglacial period. 
But while plants and animals suffered the greatest changes by this great change 
of climate and of the formation of the land, man, furnished with intellectual 
powers, knew how to resist these influences, especially by the aid of fire ; and in 
fact he lived through the two glacial epochs in which many centuries passed in 
the gradual increase and diminution of the great glaciers, man giving way before 
the increasing glaciers and following them up as they diminished in size. In the 
construction of a canal in the neighborhood of Stockholm they cut through one 
of those hills called Osars, which were deposited by drift-ice during the glacial 
epoch upon the Swedish plain, then sunk in the sea and subsequently elevated. 



APPENDIX. 283 

In this, under an immense accumulation of erratic blocks, with shells and sand, 
there was discovered at a depth of 18 metres, or about 60 feet, a circular mass of 
stones, forming a hearth, in the middle of which there were wood-coals. No 
other hand than that of man, could have performed th s piece of work ! 

In order to obtain a notion of the enormous period of time which must have 
elapsed since the manufacture of the flint axes of the Diluvium, we must have 
before us a data which M. Delanoue has given with regard to the geological con- 
stitution of the valley of the Somme. In the environs of Amiens, beneath the 
Alluvium and beneath the Loess, a product of glaciers, which sometimes attains 
a thickness of ten metres, there are two diluvial strata : — a rtd superficial one 
which is characterized by having its flints angular and not very numerous, — and 
a deeper one of grey color, the rounded flints in v. hich furnish evidence of strong 
rolling. These two diluvial ledges, each of which is several metres in thickness, 
are separated by a layer of freshwater deposits, which contains river shells and is 
sometimes as much as five metres thick. Now it is the grey or lower Diluvium,. 
lying 1 immediattly upon the tertiary formations, that contains the remains of 
human skill together with the bones of the Mammoth and fossil Rhinoceros. 
Consequently after the lapse of the first or earliest diluvial epoch a long period of 
repose must have occurred, during which the fresh-water deposits above the grey 
Diluvium were formed ; then a fresh geological change caused the formation of 
the upper Diluvium ; and still later under new conditions again a thick layer of 
Loess covered the flint axes of the second diluvial epoch. Finally the Alluvium 
was deposited upon the Loess. Hence, since the hand of man made the first flint 
axes of the valley of the Somme, its geological conditions have changed no less 
than four times, and the duration of these periods of change is truly incalculable, 
(See Broca; Hisioire des Travaux de la Societe d' Anthropologie de Paris, 1863). 
Further details upon the Glacial epoch and its relations to the question of the 
antiquity of the Human race will be found in the works of Lyell, Vogt and others 
already mentioned. Lyell, especially, (in his Antiquity of Man,) has given a very 
accurate summary of the facts relating to the Glacial epoch and the traces of 
human existence contained in its deposits. 

To the above demonstration of the high antiquity of the objects found in the 
valley of the Somme, it mi^ht also be added, that in that valley a peat of great 
thickness (often as much as 30 feet), belonging to the alluvial period, occurs. In 
the upper layers of this, Roman and Celtic monuments are contained, and its 
growth was so slow, that it must have taken thousands of years. Nevertheless it 
is much later than the old gravel-deposits with Mammoth-bones and flint axes 
which lies beneath it. Moreover, some of these gravel-deposits were accumulated 
in river-courses which formerly flowed a hundred feet higher than the present 
stream, and before the valley had acquired its present form and depth. What a 
length of time must consequently have elapsed since the deposition of those axe- 
bearing beds ! 

(9) « ■ The Chronology of the ancient Egyptians handed down by Manetho* and 
others," says F. Rolle, (Der Mensch, &c , 1866), "like the race-traditions of other 

* Manetho, high priest of Heliopolis, who lived 350 years B. C, calculates for 
375 Pharaohs a reigning period of. 6117 years, which, together with the present 
era, makes about 8330 years. His statements have been frequently declared un- 
worthy of belief, but they have finally proved to be thoroughly trustworthy. 



284 APPENDIX. 

ancient peoples, was regarded by Cuvier as unworthy of credit in comparison 
with the Mosaic records, and he assumed that in accordance with the latter the 
creation of Man took place about 6000 years ago. Nevertheless the historical 
part of Manetho's report has since proved to be more authentic than Cuvier's 
geological views. 

"Even in 1845 Wagner asserted that the Mosaic record of Creation could 
establish its claim to be the most ancient composition above all other traditions, 
and that nothing but a deficiency of the necessary linguistic knowledge has led to 
other opinions ; with the exception of the Hebrew the extant histories of the 
most ancient peoples, including the Egyptians, reaches back at the utmost to 
about 2000 years B. C. 

"Nevertheless the investigation of the ancient Egyptian monuments and the 
deciphering of the Egyptian hieroglyphs, which has attained a high degree of 
certainty, have since proved the historical truth of a great part of Manetho's 
reports, and shown that he was no mere fabulous writer, but that he drew his 
materials from ancient Egyptian historical springs, was very well-informed, and 
one of the most trustworthy of the writers of antiquity, &c. 

"The kingdom of the ancient Egyptians, according to Lepsius, was already a 
well-ordered state under the so-called fourth Dynasty about the year 3400 B. C. 
Arts and Sciences flourished. Hieroglyphic writing was already invented, and 
the characters drawn in this early period are now the most ancient, perfectly 
authentic, written records which the Archaologist has any where at his command. 

"Beyond the fourth ancient Egyptian Dynasty the elucidation of history by 
the deciphering of contemporary inscriptions has certainly made but little way. 
It is, however, certain that the development of the Egyptian civilization is much 
older than even the dominion of the fourth Pharaonic dynasty. The attainment 
of so high a degree of civilization as that, which already prevailed in Egypt about 
the year 3500 B. C. , presupposes a period of several thousands of years during 
which man elevated himself by gradual progress from a condition of rude 
savagery." 

The celebrated French orientalist and Christologist, Ernest Renan, has also 
done good service in connection with the elucidation of ancient Egyptian chro- 
nology. According to him, before the year 970 B. C, when Sesac appears as the 
first ruler of the twenty-second Dynasty, twenty-one Dynasties must be brought 
into the Egyptian history, during which this stood in its highest lustre. The 
greatest epoch of Egypt commences 1700 years B. C, and therefore at a time 
when Greece and Rome were still nothing, and when Nineveh and Babylon were 
far from having attained the pinnacle of their greatness. Before the eighteenth 
Dynasty comes the epoch of the conquering Hyksos or Shepherd kings. It lasted 
511 years and commenced 2000 years B. C. Before the Shepherds, Manetho 
reckons fourteen dynasties with 2800 years ; his testimony is good. The dynasties 
also were not merely local but extended their sway over the whole of Egypt. 
Manetho's first ten dynasties cannot be reckoned otherwise than from 5000 to 2000 
years B. C, and in them falls the brilliant period of the Pyramids and their 
architects. Great light has been thrown upon this epoch by Mariette's excava- 
tions ; he discovered sculptures, inscriptions and statues which reached up to 
4000 or 4500 years B. C. It is remarkable that in the graves and sepulchres of this 
period, which already showed a high grade of civilization, no trace was to be 



APPENDIX. 285 

found of warlike life which afterwards became so important ; nor did anything 
appear connected with religion or ritual. Not a single picture of any deity 
occurred ; everything related solely to Death. 

According to J. Braun, (Geschichte der Kunst in ihrem Entwickelungsgang 
durchalle Volker der alien Welt, &*c), Egypt is the most ancient of the great 
powers and the most ancient of civilized peoples. 450 years B. C, the Egyptian 
priests showed Herodotus (to whom the wonders of ancient Egypt must have been 
greater mysteries than to our living Egyptologists) on the outer walls of the great 
,temple in Thebes, 345 mummy-chests i 1 which lay the bodies of high-priests who 
had ruled from father to son in Thebes for an equal number of ages ; it was a 
pontificial monarchy of several thousand years. According to Braun" the Greek 
civilization originated chiefly from Egypt ; and in his opinion and that of Roeth 
the most important dogmas of Christianity are borrowed frcrm the Egyptian 
theology. 

We cannot but be astonished, when we consider, that at a time, when in 
Europe the aborigines chased the wild animals with miserable weapons of stone, 
or dwelt in wooden huts over the water, and obtained their food by hunting and 
fishing, on the other side of the great Mediterranean sea, in that fortunate country 
through which the Nile flows, mighty cities flourished in beauty and grandeur, 
and arts and sciences were cultivated, whilst a powerful priesthood held the reins 
of a regular government with a firm hand, and probably maintained a flourishing 
commerce along the shores of the Mediterranean ! And what a length of time 
must have elapsed between that period, when the Egyptian aborigines themselves 
fought with weapons of stone and the time when they had attained the degree of 
civilization just described ! 

In an interesting little book on The Origin and Destiny of Man, (published in 
London in 1868), after a very exact demonstration of the ancient Egyptian chro- 
nology founded upon Mariette's discoveries and Manetho's statements, the author, 
Mr. J. P. Lesley, an American, sums up the results of Egyptian investigation as 
follows: "Such has been the history of Egypt! Seven thousand years have 
passed since the fourth king of the first dynasty built the first pyramid of 
Cochome, the first which greets the traveller going forth into the desert from the 
gates of Cairo. Yet even then Egypt was an old country ; its people civilized ; 
its architecture grand in idea and perfect in execution ; its statuary natural ; its 
language not only formed, but reduced to writing ; its agricultural life rich 
with oxen, asses, dogs and monkeys, antelopes and gazelles, geese, ducks, and 
swans, and slaves of Numidia. . . . That they enjoyed a happy, peaceful, and 
sometimes a jolly life, is easy to see, for the walls of the Memphite tombs are 
covered with pictures of feasts, and games, and dances, and boat tournaments, 
such as amuse the populace of Paris in July ; there you see poets chanting verses 
and dancing girls with hair dressed up with plates of gold. But you may look 
around in vain for the symbols of any kind of warfare. Not a trace of military 
life is visible on any monument previous to the twelfth dynasty, and very little 
trace of religion. . . . The deity had neither name nor image. Osiris was 
unknown. The dog Anubis is the only guardian of these primeval mansions of 
the dead; — the first deity, as the first friend of man. We can make out only the 
signs of a purely patriarchal civilization, in a land of peace and plenty. Each 
tomb is built by each farmer for his eternal residence. His effigy is seen in it, 



2 86 APPENDIX. 

surrounded by the pictures of his wife, his children, his servants, his scribes, his 
dogs and green monkeys and his household goods. And all this 3000 years before 
Solomon built his temple on Mount Moriah, or the Assyrian his palace on the 
platform of Koujunjik. 

" For the present let me leave, impressed upon your imaginations, one clear 
image, the contrast, the marvelous contrast, between the two pictures I have 
drawn. On the one hand we have this picture of peace and plenty among the 
ancient landholders of the valley of the Nile. On the other hand, we have that 
picture of want and warfare dominating the life of the wretched savages in the 
pine-woods of Scandinavia, and standing for the condition of the human race, or 
rather of all the other human races existing at that ancient epoch, outside of the 
valley of the Sphinx. 

" Yet such a contrast still exists in all its grim integrity upon the earth. Com- 
pare the palaces and parks of England and New England with the wigwams of 
the west or the slave-cabins of the south ; with the utter homelessness of the 
Hottentot and Australian in the one hemisphere, or the wretched reflection of 
primeval barbarism among ' les miserables' in Paris or in London. And so the 
world hoards up its old letters, although they can be only re-read with shudder- 
ings and tears." 

(10) It is a common but erroneous opinion that culture and civilization weaken 
and corporeally degrade Man. In general, most certainly the reverse is the case. 
Better habitations, better nourishment, better clothing and greater protection from 
diseases and from the manifold injurious actions of external nature cannot act dis- 
advantageous^ upon man and his corporeal growth, but must be to his advantage. 
This applies especially to those countries and climates which do not spontaneously 
pour what he requires into the lap of man, and which do not relieve him of all 
care about his habitation and clothing. On the other hand it certainly cannot be 
denied that civilization brings with it much that is injurious, weakening and 
enervating or excessively exciting, and therefore must be accompanied by disad- 
vantages of which man in a state of nature is ignorant. But this cannot upset 
the general rule, which is indeed abundantly confirmed by experience. For 
wherever c vilizej peoples com} in contact with savages or with tribes in a natural 
state, the 1 tter y :i 1 before the greater power and strength of the former; nay, 
they even d-e out wh n in contact with civilization, as if touched by a pestilential 
breath, as h is been t le ca,e in America and Australia. It is true that here the 
enormous preponderance of greater intellectual development comes into play, and 
associated with it the increased power of material agencies and of greater moral 
force.. 

As regards the primeval man of Europe and his bodily structure, it would 
appear, judging from the discoveries hitherto made, that he not only belonged to 
a peculiar race, but that the prehistoric races of Europe differed greatly among 
themselves. According to Vogt and Pruner-Bey there certainly existed two 
different, prehistoric races, of which one was large and dolichocephalic, the other 
small and brachycephalic. But Vogt regards the former as the most ancient. 
Professor Wilson, who has investigated the prehistoric times of Scotland, is also 
of opinion that a dolichocephalic race was conquered and subjected by a later, 
intrusive, brachycephalic one, whilst the latter in its turn, after making consider- 



APPENDIX. 287 

able advances in the bronze age, was destroyed by the Celts who introduced iron. 
According to Professor Schaaff hausen also, the oldest skull was probably dolichoce- 
phalic, thick-walled and small. 

Stone-weapons are generally found associated with long, negro-like skulls ; 
bronze-weapons with short, mongoliform skulls. Even in the present day these 
two forms of skull represent those two of the three principal races of man, 
Negroes, Mongols and Europeans, which have remained most stationary in the 
general development of civilization ; whilst the type of the oval or average head 
is that of European and other civilized peoples. This type has probably been pro- 
duced by an intermixture of the prehistoric races with the conquering people who 
introduced the Aryan languages and the use of metals into Europe. For these 
conquerors did not destroy the conquered peoples, but mixed with and changed 
them. Since then, fresh immigrations and intermixtures have been constantly 
taking place. At the present day, according to Broca, (Report iS6j-6f), the two 
extremes of these mixtures are represented by the Basques and Fins, of which the 
former are dolichocephalic and the latter brachycephalic. Broca is moreover of 
opinion that dolichocephalism and brachycephalism have no definite relation to 
intellectual development, and that among the European autochthones or abo- 
rigines living before the Indo-Germanic immigration, many were dolichocephalic 
and many brachycephalic, some large and others small in stature. The mixture 
of these with the Indo-Germanic immigrants, according to him, produced the 
many differences of the existing European peoples. 

According to Professor Schaaff hausen, (Ueber die Urform des menschlichen 
Schadels, 1S68), the dolichocephalic type of the most ancient skulls is lower than 
the brachycephalic, and must therefore be regarded as older ; but it might never- 
theless possibly be that it migrated into Europe at a later period and, being a 
ruder but physically more powerful race, overcame and displaced the brachy- 
cephalic type. This would explain why so many ancient skulls of a brachy- 
cephalic race have been discovered in Scandinavia, England and western Europe 
generally. Perhaps also, immigrations of both races into Europe may have taken 
place from time to time, (from Asia, where the brachycephalic, and from Africa, 
where the dolichocephalic type predominates.) 

All the prehistoric men of Europe, like most savages even of the historical 
period, were cannibals, as appears from the numerous discoveries of broken and 
scorched human bones. 

"If we uplift the deposits of the earth's surface," says R. Schweichel in an 
essay on the present state of linguistic and natural science with relation to the 
primitive history of man, (Leipzig, 1S68), "there appears as the first inhabitant 
of Central Europe a man, whose protruding jaws and nearly deficient forehead 
betray a savage animal character. The elongated skull with its strongly project- 
ing eyebrows reminds one of the Negro, the Mongol, the Hottentot and the 
Australian. This autochthon, the associate of the Elephant, Rhinoceros and 
Hyena, was followed by a nobler, broad-headed, slender race with small hands 
and feet, which points towards Asia. It approaches the existing Lapps, Fins and 
Esthonians. Its associate in time was the reindeer. This race never entirely dis- 
appeared. Its traces are still to be found everywhere among the present popula- 
tion of Europe. Professor Fraas has called attention to them in Swabia, where 
they had previously been regarded as a residue of the invasions of the Huns. 



288 APPENDIX. 

" The agricultural man belongs to another race which made its appearance in 
the later Stone-age, especially in the pile-buildings, and was the principal 
occupant of Central Europe throughout the whole Bronze-age. The rounded 
skull, rather broad than long, indicates an energetic muscular people. That they 
had small hands is proved by the remarkably short handles of their bronze swords, 
which are much too small for a hand of the present day. In the north of Switzer- 
land this type has maintained itself to the present day." 

(n) Dr. Spring, a distinguished savant of the University of Liege, a long time 
ago made an extremely remarkable discovery on the bank of the Maas in the 
neighborhood of Chauvaux. About a hundred feet above the present level of the 
river there was a small bone-cave, in the deposits of loam and stalagmite of which 
there were numerous bones of animals and men lying intermixed. The condition 
of these bones, which were generally split and broken, led Spring to conclude with 
perfect justice that they were the remains of a feast of cannibals or man-eaters. 
The human skulls and fragments of skulls found here all showed a form ap- 
proaching that of the Negro rather than that of the European. The skull ap- 
peared to be absolutely, and especially in proportion to the jaws, very small, the 
forehead depressed, the temples flattened, the nostrils broad, the dental arches 
very prominent and the teeth obliquely placed. The facial angle scarcely 
amounted to 700. Judging from the length of the other bones, especially the 
thigh-bones, the race must have been of small stature. Roughly worked stone- 
axes and fragments of burnt clay accompanied the remains. 

According to Vogt, (Kohlerglaube unci Wissenschaft, 1855,) all these characters 
"indicate a primitive kidd of man more nearly resembling the oblique-toothed 
Alfuru, the Negro, and generally the whole lower type of human structure, than 
the higher one." 

Among the numerous discoveries made by Dr. Schmerling in the Belgian caves 
and described by him, the so-called Engts-skull, (from the cave of Engis on the 
bank of the Maas), has attained the greatest celebrity. In its length and narrow- 
ness, the slight elevation of its forehead, the form of the widely separated orbits 
and the well-developed supraorbital arches, it resembles, especially when viewed 
from above, the celebrated Neanderthal skull, with which it has often been com- 
pared, but nevertheless in general is far superior to this in its structure. Vogt 
nevertheless thinks it should occupy a middle place between the skulls of the 
Eskimo and the Australian, and regards it with reference to the proportion of 
length to breadth, as one of the most ill-favored, animal-like and simian of skulls. 
However, in judging of the Engi -kull we must not forget that although it was 
found with extinct species of animals it was nevertheless also accompanied by 
remains of many still living species, and that consequently its former possessor 
must in all probability have belonged to a comparatively more recent epoch. 

Exactly opposite the Engis cave, on the other bank of the Maas, is the cave of 
Engihoul in which Schmerling also discovered r umerous human bones mixed with 
bones of extin t animals ; but these were chiefly bones of the extremities, and 
only two small fragments of skulls could be found. They were accompanied by 
a few rude stone implements ; indeed these objects, often associated with worked 
bones, occurred in nearly all the cives investigated by Schmerling. 

The Engihoul cave was visited in 1S60 in company with Professor Malaise of 
Liege by the famous geologist Lyell, who had had his first meeting with Schmerling 



APPENDIX. 289 

26 years before. Additional fragments of bones of man and animals were found, 
and are figured by M. Malaise in the Bulletin of the Royal Academy of Belgium 
for i860, (Vol, x. page 546.) 

(12) It has been shown, especially by recent investigations, that even the first or 
earliest stone period is represented in the caves, which was previously doubted or 
left as an open question. In some caves, (such as the Trou Marguerite in Bel- 
gium), stone implements exactly of the character of those found in the valley of 
the Somme, (Moustier and St. Acheul), occurred with enormous quantites of bones 
of the extinct Diluvial animals, (Rhinoceros, Hyena, Lion and Mammoth), but 
certainly together with many stone knives and worked Reindeer horns, like those 
from the caves of Perigord in the south of France. Dugout also, the indefatiga- 
ble Belgian cave-explorer, quite recently, (1867), found in one of his caves a great 
number of flint knives, (about 300), associated with split bones of the Quaternary 
period, (Cave-Lion, Cave-Bear, Rhinoceros, &c), evidently the remains of a feast, 
and these stone knives were very diferent from those of the Reindeer period. 

According to Lartet, the distinguished explorer of the French caves, many of 
the stone wedges of the caves are perfectly analogous to those of the open diluvial 
deposits, so that, as he expresses himself, many anthropologists believe that the 
diluvial man contemporaneously inhabited the river-valleys and the caves. Ac- 
cording to him also we must distinguish two periods, in the first of which the 
caves were only habitations and in the second only places of sepulture, (like th 1 
cave of Aurignac). The habitation of the European caves, however, persisted 
partially into historical times, and many were even occasionally made use of in 
the middle ages, as, for example, the Cave of the Fort de Tayac which often 
served as a place of refuge in time of war. 

In accordance with this, Lartet, in a discourse delivered at the Congress of 1867, 
distinguished three kinds of caves : 1. Caves of the dihivial period , with remains 
of the Elephant, of the large Cat, of the Cave-Bear, &c. ; 2. Caves 0/ the Reindeer 
period, which contain implements made by the hand of man, showing considerable 
artistic progress; and 3. Caves of the latest stone-age, with remains of still-living 
and domestic animals, with numerous articles of pottery and polished or ground 
stone-axes. 

The caves themselves, according to Desnoyers, originated by fissures in the 
limestone rocks, which were subsequently washed and made wider and wider by 
rivers and the action of flowing water. 

The u=e of caves as habitations is still very common among the savage inhabit- 
ants of extra-European countries. The number of the London Anthropological 
Review for April, 1869, contains a very interesting account cf the cave-inhabiting 
cannibals of South Africa, by Bowker, Bleek and Beddoe, which furnishes suffi" 
cient evidence of the infinite savagery of these African cannibals, whose habits 
remind us closely of our most ancient predecessors in Europe. The largest cave 
of this kind, which was visited and examined by the above-mentioned gentlemen, 
and which was situated in the mountains beyond Thaba Bosigo, contained im- 
mense quantities of human bones, especially those of children and young people. 
Their condition left no doubt for what purpose the individuals to whom these bones 
had belonged, had been brought to this spot. In the back of the cave there was a 
space enclosed with stones which had served as a prison and keeping place for 
the victims, not destined for immediate consumption. 



29O APPENDIX. 

The savages, who until recently had held their human sacrifices here, were not 
driven to this course by hunger, as they inhabited a fertile country abounding in 
game, They ate even their own wives, children and invalids ; and the bones of 
one young person were still in so fresh a state that it could only be supposed, 
that this victim might have undergone his terrible fate within a few months. 

Similar caves of smaller size were scattered through the whole district and were 
still inhabited only thirty years ago by cannibals, who were the dread of the sur- 
rounding tribes. They sent out hunting parties who lay in ambush among 
bushes and rocks or at watering places and carried off women, children and 
travellers for the purposes of cannibalism. There still remain a good many of 
these form.er cannibals, and one of them who lives not far from the cave, an old 
fellow of some sixty years old, was visited by the travellers. 

Dr. Bowker, with some friends, also visited the caves at the sources of the river 
Caledon, which are still inhabited, although not now, as formerly, by cannibals. 
Here also they found an old savage of the cannibal times and learned that 
formerly the people adopted the charming practice of setting traps ior the numer- 
ous lions which infest the district, by tying firmly in them little children whose 
crying was to attract the lions. At present nearly all the tribes, by the exertions 
of their old chief, Moshesch, have given up the horrible practice of cannibalism. 

The corpses of the Europeans, who fell in former battles with these savages, 
were eaten by them, with the notion that by this means the courage of the de- 
ceased would pass into their devourers. Usually they ate only the heart, liver 
and brain ; but in times of scarcity they consumed the rest of the flesh. 

(13) Up to July, 1866, E. Dupont had examined at the cost of the Belgian govern- 
ment no fewer than twenty-one caves on the banks.of the Lesse in the province of 
Namur. Among these there were/bur in which numerous traces of the Belgian 
Reindeer-man occurred, namely, the Trou des Noutons, Trou du Frontal, Trou 
Rosette and Trou de Chaleux. The animals, whose bones were found, belong 
either to living species or to such as have quitted the country, like the Reindeer. 
The industrial objects of stone are all stone knives, and, (with the exception of a 
later discovery mentioned on page 289), neither polished nor diluvial stone axes 
were found. But in the Trou de Chaleux alone, Dupont found more than thirty 
thousand such knives together with numerous split bones of animals and an im- 
mense mass of objects manufactured chiefly from Reindeer horns, such as needles, 
arrow heads, daggers, hooks, &c. There were also ornaments made of precious 
stones, bored shells, &c, pieces of slate with engraved figures, mathematical lines 
and the like, remains of very coarse pottery, and finally hearths, ashes and char- 
coal, intermixed with broken bones. To judge from the latter the horse seems 
to have served as the principal diet of the Reindeer-man, and next to the horse the 
Fox and the Water-Rat, whilst remains of Fishes occur but sparingly. In the 
Trou des Noutons no fewer than one hundred and fifty worked Reindeer horns 
were found ; their acute tips may have served chiefly for the manufacture of javelins. 
The Trou du Frontal, which is analogous to that of Aurignac, has already been 
described, and contained, besides fourteen human skeletons, numerous flint 
knives, bones of animals, shells, hearths, coals and traces of fire. The Trou Ro- 
sette also concealed the remains of four buried men, whose skulls were completely 
destroyed. 

Dupont distinguishes three epochs for the Belgian cave-fauna, just as Lartet 



APPENDIX. 291 

had done with regard to the French caves. Of these the most ancient is repre- 
sented by extinct animals, such as the Mammoth, Wooly Rhinoceros, Cave-Bear, 
&c. ; the second by species still living but which have emigrated, such as the 
Reindeer and Chamois ; and the third or most recent by living animals, some 
of which have been extirpated here by man, such as the Stag, Beaver, Bear, &c. 
According to him all caves must be subordinated to one of these three divisions. 

As regards the antiquity of the Belgian caves, all those with contents must, 
according to Dupont, be more ancient than the so-called " Blocklehm," and their 
period comes between that of the Boulder drift and stratified Lehm and that of 
the " Blocklehm." 

The men of the Belgian Reindeer period were, according to Dupont, small, 
muscular, active and subject to diseases. Their skulls had the so-called brachyce- 
phalic type in a slight degree and ran into a point ; the face was flattened, like 
that of the Turanian race. The whole aspect of these cave-dwellers must have 
been very rude. 

Similar results were obtained by the examination of the rubbish heap which 
was accidentally discovered in 1867 at the source of the Schusse in the neighbor- 
hood of the Black Forest (in Swabia). The Schusse is a little river which flows 
into the lake of Constance, and the source of which issues upon the high plateau 
of Upper Swabia between the lake of Constance and the upper course of the 
Danube, nearly in the middle of the railway between Ulm and Friedrichshafen. 
Operations undertaken for the improvement of a mill-pool there brought to light 
the characteristic remains of a complete station of the Reindeer period. More 
than 600 split flints were found with such a quantity of partly worked and partly 
untouched antlers and bones of the Reindeer, that Mr. Oscar Fraas was enabled 
to put together from these remains a complete skeleton of the Reindeer which 
is now in the Museum at Stuttgart. Most of the bones were split for the purpose 
of getting the marrow out of them. The bones of a number of other animals, 
now living only in high northern latitudes, such as the Glutton, the Arctic Fox, 
&c, were also found. The Reindeer bones and horns showed numerous and un- 
mistakable traces of their having been operated on by means of stone instruments. 
There were also numerous remains of Fishes, and a fish-hook manufactured from 
Reindeer horns. 

Not only the careful investigation of the geognostic conditions of the place, 
but also the flora of the time (for remains of mosses were found which now live 
only in the extreme north), leave no doubt that the Reindeer station on the 
Schusse belongs to the Glacial epoch, or that it probably belongs exactly to the 
interval between the two Glacial epochs which in all probability Switzerland has 
experienced. Mr. E. Desor, at the Anthropological Congress of 1867, declared 
the deposit in question to be the termi?ial moraine of the Rhine-Glacier, which 
was formerly very large. Moreover, according to him, this discovery at Schussen- 
ried is particularly remarkable, because it is the first example of a station of the 
Reindeer-men in a free and open deposit, their remains having hitherto been 
found only in caves. 

(14) P. Gleisberg (Kritische Darstellung der Urgeschichte des Menschen, Dres- 
den, 1868) is absolutely of opinion that in prehistoric times African and Asiatic 
races of men immigrated repeatedly and alternately into Europe, and thus gave 



292 APPENDIX. 

the main impulse to the development of civilization. Even if this should be cor- 
rect it would at any rate furnish no objection to the theory of development in 
general, inasmuch as these immigrant races must have become developed in their 
own homes from rude primitive conditions, and unmistakable traces of the stone 
age and its various phases have been detected in different parts both of Asia and 
Africa (Palestine, Syria, India, the Cape of Good Hope, Madras, &c.) 

J. P. Lesley also (Man's Origin and Destiny) calls civilization "the blossom 
of the migration of tribes," and is of opinion that every great section of history 
has started from some barbaric invasion, as also that the most nobly organized 
races of men had the greatest tendency to migrate. According to his representa- 
tion, the north of Europe has seen three different races of men, corresponding to 
the three sections of the stone, bronze and iron ages, of which the bronze-men, 
who came from a great distance, first introduced the knowledge of metals and 
their working, together with the sense of art and the custom of burning the dead ; 
whilst the tall, strong, long-headed men of the iron age represent the taste for 
war and conquest, and brought the tribes which preceded them into subjection. 

(15) Proof of this is furnished by the very interesting speech on Primeval Man 
and his Progress, made by Sir John Lubbock in the year 1867 at the Meeting of 
the British Association at Dundee, in opposition to Archbishop Whateley, who 
had defended the old theory of perfection. Lubbock proves by convincing argu- 
ments that Whateley's theory is scientifically quite untenable, and that not only 
do savages always show traces of gradual although very slow progress, but traces 
of former barbarism are by no means wanting even among the most civilized na- 
tions. Many a fishing village on the English coast is still exactly in the same 
state in which it was 120 years ago It is true that there are here and there peo- 
ples who have gone back instead of advancing ; but these cases can only be re- 
garded as exceptions, whilst in general there is no foundation in fact for the as- 
sumption of a former condition of perfection. Metal implements and traces of 
pottery, which is so persistent, have never been met with among peoples who 
were unacquainted with metals, as in Australia, New Zealand, Polynesia, &c. 
The art of spinning also and the use of the bow are unknown to many savages ; 
and yet these are arts which, once known, would never have been lost. It is the 
same with house-building or with religion, of which no trace could be found 
among many savages, and which nevertheless, if once existent, could not easily 
have been lost ; — or with the art of numeration which arose very gradually by 
counting on the fingers and toes,* and even at the present day among many 
tribes of Brazil, Australia, &c, does not go beyond the numbers 2 — 4 ; — or with 
the use of fire which is still unknown to many tribes, such as the Dokos in Abys- 
sinia (who know nothing of marriage or family, but go quite naked and live to- 
gether like animals), and which, if once known, would certainly not have been 
lost ; — or with language, which is so scanty among the Australians, for example, 
as to possess only a few hundred words and among these none to express general 
ideas; — or with the notions of marriage, family, paternity and the like, which 
arc Perfectly unknown to many savages, and which can be demonstrated to have 
made their way only with the gradual advance of civilization. 

* Even among civilized nations, counting by the fingers and toes, (5, 10, 20,) is 
still quite common. 



APPENDIX. 293 

Many savages (Australians, Fiji or South Sea Islanders, &c.) only recognize 
maternal descent, and the Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks and Jews actually have 
traditions as to the introduction of marriage. 

Everywhere, even among the most civilized peoples, we find in superabundance 
the unmistakable traces of a former state of barbarism and of the extension of a 
stone age over nearly the whole earth. 

That people like Archbishop Whateley are not wanting even in Germany is 
proved by an essay (of which a second edition has just appeared), on The Com- 
mencement of Organisms, by Professor J. P. Baltzer of Breslau, who takes the 
field against Carl Vogt and his Lectures on The Primitive History of Man, with 
what he calls scientific arguments, but in reality with the whole theological armor 
of the middle ages, and likewise endeavors to save the " Man of Paradise " from 
his expulsion by modern science. Any one who is interested to learn how this 
science looks in the eyes of a theologian and Professor of Divinity in the present 
day, may amuse himself for a few hours by reading this essay. 

The biblical Adam and the whole Judaeo-Christian idea of Creation connected 
with him, can in the present day and in the present state of science only be held 
by those who, like the theologians, will not and therefore cannot be convinced by 
scientific arguments. Thousands of preachers, without troubling themselves 
about the clear demonstrations of science, continue every Sunday, to narrate to 
the public again and again their chiluish tales about Paradise, the Fall of Man, 
the Creation of the World in six days, &c, &c, and millions of hearers say 
" amen" to them every Sunday. And what are the scientific men doing while 
this is going on ? They smile over these old Jewish legends and fables and mix 
indifferently in the midst of a multitude which appears as if bewitched, without 
making what must appear to them the desperate attempt to waken the sleepers 
out of their dreams. And yet, as J. P. Lesley says in his excellent work which 
has been so often cited, we might as well believe in Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp, 
or that the Cathedral of Cologne was begun and finished before breakfast yester- 
day, as that man was created only 6,0^0 years ago and in a single day ! " There 
is no alliance possible," he continues, "between Jewish theology and modern 
science ; they are irreconcilable enemies. Geology in its present advancement 
cannot be brought more easily into harmony with the Mosaic cosmogony, than 
with the Gnostic, the Vedic or the Scandinavian. It has escaped fully and finally 
from its subjection to the Creed. . . . Nor is the difficulty diminished by 
calling a day a thousand years. We have in palaeontology the records of a 
thousand ages. Many of the old limestone strata are entirely made up of corals, 
and their triturated debris. Some of the old Devonian mud-rocks are mere 
masses of the casts of Brachiopods, of every size from the youngest to the oldest. 
Some of the coal-measure shales are leaved like a book, and every leaf glistens 
with delicate fresh-water shells. In the Deep-river basin of North Carolina mil- 
lions of fish-teeth lie packed away between two layers of coal which lie but two 
feet apart. There are more than a hundred beds of coal in a single coal 
system, each of which is the result of the growth of a peat-bog, swamp and forest 
of a separate age ; to say nothing of the many fathoms of rocks which intervene 
between each one coal-bed and the next in order over it ; during which long in- 
terval of time the land must have been too deep below the water-level to permit 
of vegetation. — The fossil dung of the fish which swam the seas during the de- 



294 APPENDIX. 

position of the chalk of England, was so abundant, that the farmers about Cam- 
bridge collect it, as it is set free from the mother-rock by denudation, and use it 

to -manure ■their lands. ' ' , 

(16) " Linne, in his system, united man with the apes proper, the Prosimire and 
the bats in an order which he named Primates, — that is, sovereigns, or as it were 
the highest dignitaries of the animal kingdom. Blumenbach, on the contrary ( 
separated man as a special order, under the name of Bitnana or two-handed, to 
which he opposed the united apes and Prosimiae under the name of Quadrumana, 
or four-handed. This division was adopted by Cuvier and most of the zjolo- 
gists who succeeded him. It was only in 1863 that it was shown by Huxley, in 
his excellent Evidence as to Man's Place hi Nature, that this rested on false 
views, and that the pretended 'four-handed' animals (apes and Prosimias) are 
just as truly ' two-handed ' as man himself. In all these relations the apes and 
Prosimia? are circumstanced exactly as man ; and hence it was altogether wrong 
to separate him from the former as a special order on the ground of the differen- 
tiation (distinctive formation, perfection) of his hand and foot. But the case is 
just the same with all other physical characters by which one might endeavor to 
separate man from the apes — the relative length of the limbs, the structure of the 
skull, the brain, &c. In all these respects without exception, the differences be- 
tween man and the higher apes are less than the corresponding differences be- 
tween the higher and the lower apes." — Prof. E. Haeckel's Natiirliche Schbp- 
fungsgeschichte, (Berlin, 186S), pp. 490-91. Compare, in reference to further 
details, the Author's Vorlesungen fiber Darwin (Leipzig, 1868) , p. 147 et seq. 

That, moreover, the above alteration of the original Linnean system, proposed 
and introduced by Blumenbach in 1799, was early recognized as false and de- 
cidedly condemned from the anatomico-zoological point of view, may be shown 
by the following words of the celebrated Geoffroy St.-Hilaire : — " When man is 
regarded as a group of the value of an order, and a position is assigned him as 
remote from the ape, as the latter is from the Carnivora, he stands at the same 
time too near to and too remote from the higher mammalia, — too near if the ex- 
alted faculties which place man above all organized beings be taken into account, 
too far if only the organic affinities which unite him with the Quadrumana and 
especially with the true apes, be considered ; for in a physical point of view the 
latter are much nearer to man than to their proper relatives, the so-called 
Prosimias. What, then, is the significance of the order Bimana of Blumenbach 
and Cuvier ? An impracticable compromise between two opposed and incom- 
patible systems, it is one of those bastard-like assumptions, one of those equivocal 
resources, which, more nearly considered, satisfy no one, just because they are 
meant to please every body. It is probably a half truth, but also a half false- 
hood ; for in science what is a half truth but an error ?" At all events this pas- 
sage proves that Huxley's startling announcement relative to the anatomico- 
zoological position of man can lay no claim to novelty. 

(17) The whole arrangement is as follows : 

1. Anthropini. This family comprises man only. 

2. Catarrhini, or narrow-nosed, comprising the true apes of the Old World. 

3. Platyrrhini, or flat-nosed, comprising the true apes of the New World 
or America. 



APPENDIX. 295 

4. Arctopithecini, comprising the sahuis, marmosets, or American clawed 
apes. 

5. Lemurini, comprising' the so-called Lemures or Prosimise. 

6. Cheiromyini, including only the Cheiromys. 

7. Galeopithecini, comprising only the flying lemur, — a remarkable form, 
which almost touches the bats in a similar manner to that in which Cheiromys 
approaches the Rodentia, and Lemur the Insectivora. 

The singularity and ambiguous nature of Galeopithecus have procured for it 
the most various names, as the flying dog or fox, flying cat, winged ape, &c. ; 
and its arrangement in the system has occasioned to zoologists much perplexity. 
Combining in itself some characters of the ape and of the bat respectively, it at 
the same time presents a further series of peculiarities which have no closer sys- 
tematic connection. Its arms, legs and tail are enclosed in a thick and densely 
hairy fold of skin, which commences at the neck, extends down the flanks and 
joins together both the fingers and the toes like the web of a water fowl ; yet 
this cannot serve for flight, but only as a parachute, by means of which the ani- 
mal swings itself from branch to branch. 

(18) It appears from these communications that (independently of ancient 
myths) the first authentic account of such an animal proceeded from an English- 
man (Andrew Battel) in the celebrated old book Purchas, his Pilgrimage, 
(1613). From A. Battel, who had lived for years in the kingdom of Congo, and 
nine or ten months in the forests there, Purchas heard " of a kind of Great Apes, 
if they might so be termed, of the height of a man, but twice as bigge in feature 
of their limmes, with strength proportionable, hairie all over, otherwise altogether 
like men and women in their whole bodily shape. They lived on such wilde 
frui's as the trees and woods yielded, and in the night time lodged on the trees." 

In a later account by the same narrator (1625), where two anthropoid apes are 
spoken of, he says of the Pongo, represented as the larger : — " This Pongo is in 
all proportion like a man ; but that he is more like a giant in stature than a man ; 
for he is very tall, and hath a man's face, hollow-eyed, with long hair upon his 
browes. His face and eares are without haire, and his hands also. His bodie is 
full of haire, but not very thicke ; and it is of a dunnish color. He differeth not 
from a man but in his legs ; for they have no calfe. He goeth alwaies upon his 
legs ; and carrieth his hands clasped in the nape of his necke when he goeth upon 

the ground. They sleepe in the trees, and build shelters for the raine 

They cannot speake, and have no understanding more than a beaste. . . . 
Those Pongoes are never taken alive because they are so strong that ten men 
cannot hold one of them. . . . When they die among themselves, they cover 
the dead with great heaps of boughs and wood, which is commonly found in the 
forest. . . . One of those Pongoes tooke a negro boy of his which lived a 
moneth with them." 

A generation later, Tulpius was the first to give a picture, taken from life, of 
" Satyrus t'ndicus" "called by the Indians orang-outang or man of the woods," 
which was evidently a young chimpanzee. Then the existence of other Asiatic 
anthropoid apes became known, though at first the accounts were largely mixed 
with fable; and as early as 1699 the Royal Society published a very good and 
serviceable anatomical comparison of a so-called ' ' Pygmie " (a young Chimpan- 



296 APPENDIX. 

zee from Angola in Africa), with a tailed and a tailless Monkey, and with Man — 
a work which has served as a model for many later writers. The author, Tyson, 
starting even then from views similar to those of Huxley in our own day, enu- 
merates forty-seven points in which the Pygmie has a greater resemblance toman 
than to the tailed and tailless Monkies ; and thirty-four in which the reverse is 
the case, and names it the most human-like animal that has yet occurred to him. 
In 1744, William Smith (A New Voyage to Guinea) describes very accurately an 
upright-going anthropoid ape from the neighborhood of Sierra Leone, under the 
name of Mandrill (man-ape), which likewise must have been a chimpanzee. 
Linne knew no anthropoid ape from his own observation ; yet he enumerates 
four as ' Anthropomorphas " (in the treatise of his disciple Hoppius), and even 
speaks of one of them as "Homo caudatus" (tailed man). Buffon, who saw a 
young chimpanzee alive, and became possessed of an adult anthropoid ape from 
Asia, which he called a Gibbon, gives very excellent descriptions of these ani- 
mals ; while a Dutch naturalist, Vosmaer, in 1778 published a very good ngure 
and description of a young orang which had been brought alive to Holland ; and 
at the same time his celebrated countryman, Peter Camper (1779) composed a 
treatise on the Orang-utan, in which he showed that it formed by itself a per- 
fectly distinct species. He dissected several of these animals of young age. A 
full-grown orang of 49 inches height was shot by a Dutch resident in Rembang, 
Borneo, at the end of the last century, and very accurately described by von 
Wurmb, a German officer. The papers he has left contain further descriptions 
of this kind, as that of a specimen 4 feet 5 inches in height. At present we are 
more intimately acquainted with the orang-outan than with any other of the 
anthropoid apes. Besides it, we know in Asia only the gibbon, which is indeed 
more widely distributed and hence more accessible to observation, but, on ac- 
count of its smaller size, has attracted less attention. 

In Africa, on the other hand, the accounts of the old English adventurer Battel 
have been splendidly confirmed by modern discoveries. Since 1835, not only has 
the skeleton of the adult chimpanzee (Troglodytes niger), which is evidently the 
smaller of the two mentioned by Battel, and named by him (as it is now in that 
country) the engeko, become intimately known through Prof. Owen's excellent 
work, but in 1819 Bowdich found strong proofs of the existence of the larger 
anthropoid ape, named by Battel the pongo, by the natives the ingena, or engena, 
" five feet high, and four across the shoulder," builder of a house, outside of 
which it sleeps. In 1847, Dr. Savage saw in the house of the missionary, Wilson, 
on the Gaboon river, the skeleton of this animal ; and further inquiries led to so 
accurate a knowledge of it that Prof. Wyman was able to give a description of 
its osseous structure. Battel's pongo was thus discovered afresh ; but the fre- 
quent misuse of that name induced Dr. Savage to apply to the animal the name 
of Gorilla (borrowed from the Periplus of Hanno, the Carthaginian). The skele- 
ton of the Gorilla has since been investigated by Owen and Duvernoy ; while 
other African missionaries and travellers have increased our knowledge in other 
respects of an animal which has had the rare fortune to be, of the anthropoid 
apes, the first made known to the world (by Battel), and the last investigated 
scientifically. 

According to Huxley, all the anthropoid apes have certain morphological char- 
acters in common. Thus, they all have the same number of teeth as man ; the 



APPENDIX. 297 

nasal cavities are divided by a narrow septum and are directed downward ; the 
arms are longer than the legs and end in hands which are provided with thumbs, 
while the great toe is always smaller and more mobile than in Man, and oppo- 
sable, like a thumb, to the rest of the foot. None of them has a tail or the cheek- 
pouches common in Monkeys ; and all of them are inhabitants of the Old World. 
The accurate investigation of their mode of life has ever been extremely difficult, 
as they inhabit only the deepest forests of Asia and Africa. The gibbons are 
the best known, after them the orangs, while of the mode of life of the chimpanzee 
and gorilla we have the least knowledge from the direct testimony of the Euro- 
peans. Of the Gibbon there are about half a dozen species distributed over the 
Asiatic islands of Java, Sumatra and Borneo, and in Malacca, Siam, Arakan and 
Hindostan. They are only about three feet in height (thus the smallest of the 
anthropoid apes) and very slender ; they live on trees, and in the evening descend 
in troops to the open country. They have a very loud and piercing voice, and 
readily and willingly assume the upright gait ; they can also in this position, 
with a little assistance from their veiy long arms and hands, run swiftly ; in fact, 
testimonies are unanimous that, on level ground, this is their usual and habitual 
practice. Their dexterity in climbing and leaping is astonishing. They drink 
by dipping their fingers in the liquid and then licking them, and sleep in a sitting 
posture. Duvaucel asserts, that he has seen the mothers carry their young ones 
to the water and wash their faces! In captivity they ixhibit intelligence, cun- 
ning, mischievousness, and a sort of conscience, as is shown by an anecdote told 
by Mr. Bennett. The Orangs seldom reach a height of more than four feet ; but 
some are said to have been found between five and six feet high.* They dwell 
in the densest forests of Sumatra and Borneo, and, as a rule, the old males live 
alone, except at pairing-time. They live perhaps forty or fifty years, are indo- 
lent., and prepare themselves a bed of boughs and leaves, between or under the 
trees, with dexterity and quickness. They generally lie on their back or side, 
resting their head on their hands. In cold, windy and rainy nights, they cover 
themselves with branches, and hide their heads therein. They climb very slowly 
and cautiously, more like a man than an ape, never make a spring, and first test 
the branches as to whether they will bear, by shaking them. In the wild state 
very shy and even dangerous, they are easily tamed and attachable. When pur- 
sued they throw branches and heavy fruits from the trees. An orang examined 
by Dr. Miiller in captivity, was found by him to possess great intelligence^ Vei - 
handlungen ilber die Naturgeschichte der uberseeischen Besitzungen von Hol- 
land, 1839-45). The Dyaks of Borneo distinguish several species of Orang ; but 
these perhaps may correspond to individual variations, which among the orangs 
are very great. The skulls available show as great variation as the most pro- 
nounced forms of the Caucasian and 'the African races in Man. Similar facts are 
met with in considering the two African apes, the Chimpanzee and the Gorilla. 
Of the adult Chimpanzees measured by Dr. Savage none exceeded five feet in 
height. They stand upright, leaning somewhat forwards, but readily fall again 
upon all fours, in which position the hands touch the ground, not with the inner 
m 
* According to Spencer St. John, {Life in the forests of the Far East ; London, 
1862,) the orang-outan attains in Borneo the height of five feet two inches ; while 
among the natives even five feet five inches is considered a tall stature, and the 
average is five feet three inches. 



298 APPENDIX. 

surface, but with the thickened ossicles of the outer side. They are good climbers, 
live in company, yet seldom more than five together; they defend themselves 
chiefly with their teeth, make nests, or beds on the lower branches of the trees, 
show in their habits a high degree of intelligence, especially much affection for 
their young, and are said by the hunters to display, when pursued and wounded, 
a very human-like deportment. The natives say that the chimpanzees were once 
members of the human race, but were excluded from the society of man on ac- 
count of bad conduct, and little by little degenerated to their present condition.* 
The chimpanzee is found from Sierra Leone to Congo, and it appears that there 
are several species of them. 

The Gorilla or pongo (the latter name probably a corruption of Mpongwe, 
the name of the race of men in whose country the gorilla is met with), dwells 
on both sides of the river Gaboon, in Lower Guinea, West Africa ; it is named 
E7igena by the natives, attains a height of about 5 feet, is very broad between 
the shoulders, and quite covered with coarse black hair, which with age 
becomes grey — except the face and ears, which are naked and of a dark brown 
color; the skull bears a strong longitudinal and a slighter transverse hairy crest, 
which the animal can move up and down. The neck is short and thick ; the arms 
are very long, reaching below the knee, and the hands very large. The gait is 
waddling, and the motion of the forward-leaning body rolling, or from side to 
side. Like the chimpanzee, the animal reaches its long arms to the ground and 
then throws the body forward between them with a half springing, half swinging 
motion. When it assumes the erect position (to which it is said to be much in- 
clined), it balances its huge body by bending its arms upward. The gorillas also 
live in companies, which, however, are less numerous than those of the chim- 
panzees, and, as a rule, contain only one full-grown male ; for as soon as the 
young males become adult they fight for the supremacy, and the strongest kills or 
drives away the rest. Their dwellings are like those of the chimpanzee. The 
gorillas are very savage and dangerous, and never flee from man, as the chim- 
panzees do ; they are hence objects of terror to the natives, and are never at- 
tacked by them. In time of danger the females and young hide themselves, while 
the male furiously rushes on the foe. These communications from Dr. Savage 
were confirmed by a letter from Mr. Ford to the Academy of Sciences, Philadel- 
phia, in 1852. He says that the gorilla inhabits the mountain-ranges of the in- 
terior of Guinea, from the Cameroon in the north to Angola in the south, and 
about 100 miles inland, and only in the south approaches within 10 miles of the 
coast. Formerly, he said, it was found only in the neighborhood of the sources 

* The apes are more acknowledged as broth -»rs by savage or primitive tribes 
than by our modern civilization. According to a communication from Prof. 
Bischoff, the negroes in Guinea and the natives of Java and Sumatra look upon 
the orang-outan, (a word signifying "wild man," "man of the woods,'") and the 
chimpanzee as men who could speak, if they would, but who, from mere lazi- 
ness, behave as if they could not. The Siamese say: "The ape is a man, 
certainly not very handsome, but nevertheless a brother." (Bowring, Mission 
to Siam, 1855.) And in the ancient Indian heroic poem Ramajana, the wild tribes 
constituting the aboriginal population of the Dekhan, against whom Rama 
fights, are called " apes " or "men of the woods," the island of Ceylon appears 
as "Laaka," and its inhabitants as apes or the offspring of apes.— Note by the 
Author. 



APPENDIX. 299 

of the Gaboon, while recently it boldly approaches the plantations of the 
Mpongwe. This may be the reason that formerly we had scarcely any informa- 
tion about it. A specimen examined by Ford weighed 1701b. without the viscera, 
and measured 4 ft. 4 inch, round the chest. According- to the same author, it 
attacks in an erect position, with a furious bellowing, that may be heard to a 
great distance, and, having thrown down its adversary, lacerates him with its 
teeth. A young one, taken alive, proved perfectly untamable, and died at the 
end of four months. Similar testimonies are given by French authors ; and 
after what we already know of the gibbon, orang and chimpanzee, they cannot 
very much astonish us. Particularly, as it has been proved that the gibbon 
readily assumes the erect position, the gorilla is in its entire structure much better 
adapted fordoing the same. Hence the distrust with which the statements of a 
recent traveller (Du Chaillu) have been regarded is scarcely justified, since every 
thing essential was known before. There is absolutely nothing improbable even 
in his accounts respecting the Nschiego-Mbouve and the Koolou-Kamba. Never- 
theless, just on account of this distrust, not yet removed, Huxley has avoided 
quoting Du Chaillu's book in any way. The author has briefly given the es- 
sence of Du Chaillu's account of the gorilla, the particularly anthropoid koolou- 
kamba, and the nest-building ape, the nschiegombouve, in his worh, Ans Natur 
U7id Wissenscha/t, Studien, Kritiken und Abhandlungen (Leipzig, 1869), II. Ed. 
p. 297. 

(19) Thus, although in proportion to its size it has the largest brain of all the 
anthropoids, yet the chimpanzee, and especially the variety of it the koolou- 
kamba, which has a very broad forehead, has a better formed skull, the orang a 
better formed brain, and the gibbon is superior in the formation of his trunk- 
skeleton, which is very similar to that of man. On the other hand, the gorilla 
has the shortest arms of all and the greatest resemblance to man with respect to 
the shoulder-blades and the proportion between the humerus and forearm. The 
same holds good with respect to the more elevated nasal bones, the less-projecting 
intermaxillaries and the human-like shape of the ear. The broad, human-like 
pelvis, the stronger development of the sciatic muscles, and the so-called mastoid 
processes of the skull, developed in the gorilla alone, lead to the conclusion that 
he is more adapted than other apes for standing erect. The hand is peculiarly 
human-like, having a properthumb and short fingers, and is attached to the arm 
by eight carpal bones, as in man, not nine as in other apes. It is just the same 
with the lower limbs, which are distinguished by a proportionally strong de- 
velopment of the heel, making the gorilla more plantigrade than the chimpanzee. 
The number of the vertebra? in each of the anthropoids is the same as in man ; 
on the other hand, the gorilla and chimpanzee come nearer to man in the number 
of their ribs, which amounts to 13, while man, as a rule, has 12 (sometimes 11 or 
13), and the other apes possess 14. The full-grown male gorilla has also a longi- 
tudinal crest-elevation on the forehead, which is not generally possessed by the 
other apes. The large occipital foramen, the more forward position of which in 
man makes it possible for him to maintain the erect posture, occupies nearly the 
same place in the skull of some of the apes ; and the number, arrangement and 
nature of the teeth are alike in man and ape. 

In the autumn of 1864, at the meeting of the Natural History Society of 



300 APPENDIX. 

Rhenish Prussia and Westphalia, Prof. Schaaffhausen exhibited three excellently- 
finished plaster busts of the gorilla, as well as casts of the brain, hand and foot, 
executed by Zeiller, the sculptor, in Munich, from the animals which W. Schmidt, 
of Offenbach, has prepared and stuffed for the city of Lubeck. At the same 
time he exhibited photographs of the specimens in London, Paris, Vienna and 
Lubeck. On the basis of the Lubeck animals, and availing himself of Prof. 
Owen's celebrated memoir, P. Meyer, M. D., Offenbach, composed his exhaustive 
treatise : The Gorilla, ivith a Consideration of the Differences between Man and 
Ape, and the new Theory of the Transformation of Species. Subsequently, 
two more examples arriving at Offenbach from Lubeck, one of them a large, very 
strong, full-grown male, he added an appendix of further details. Both of these, 
especially the latter, are illustrated with very good figures, true to nature, in 
which the animal stands as he is described by Winwood Reade in his most recent 
account of his travels (1864) — erect on his feet, and holding by the hands to the 
branches of the trees. The measurement of the facial angle of a skull sent with 
them, which must have belonged to a very old animal, gave, according to Meyer, 
55 , the capacity of the cranium being 26 cubic inches. The occipital foramen 
was situated well forward towards the centre of the basis cranii ; and the two 
sole remaining lateral cutting-teeth were strikingly like human incisors. 

(20) The following may be regarded as the most essential marks of distinction 
of man from the animals most nearly related to him : — the shortness of the upper 
and the length of the lower limbs in proportion to the trunk ; the broader pelvis 
and scapula or shoulder-blade ; the accurate curve of the vertebral column, and 
the whole formation of the skeleton, favoring the upright gait, and the corre- 
sponding parts of the muscular system ; the shortness of the spinous processes 
of the cervical vertebras ; the more perfectly formed hand, with its very mobile 
and opposable thumb, its use favored by the facility of movement of the arm ; 
the greater contrast in form and function between hand and. foot, and the in- 
creased division of labor effected thereby ; the globose form and the size of the 
skull, and its height and largeness in relation to the more retreating face and the 
less-projecting jaws ; the quicker coalescence of the so-called intermaxillary bones 
and the greater perfection of the so-called mastoid processes of the skull ; the 
prominent nasal bones, the projecting chin, the mouth with- lips ; the smaller 
teeth, constituting an uninterrupted series of nearly equal height ; the larger and 
better formed brain, &c, &c. All these, however, are more or less relative and 
are balanced by manifold intermediate and transitional stages in savage and ex- 
tinct races of man and other animals. Here, too, as everywhere, Nature knows 
no abrupt transitions, but only variations in a gradual development which every- 
where pursues the same fundamental plan. The oft-quoted J. P. Lesley, here 
again, well says : "The differences which subsist between man and ape and be- 
tween the different races of man, as well as those between the different races of 
apes, are only variations of the great fundamental plan common to all. Take 
for example the ideal brain-case. It may be more simioid or more anthropoid ; 
it may be dolicho or brachycephalic, have a low, retreating, or a high, erect fore- 
head ; it may exhibit a perfectly even rotundity, or be lumpy and knotty like the 
root of a bay tree ; it may be high and pointed, or enormously depressed between 
the ears ; it may bulge out over the ears, or before and behind, and be ridged and 



APPENDIX. 301 

channelled from side to side ; yet all these are differences we are accustomed to 
see daily, and which we should see if we extended our steps to the forest of the 
tropics. The whole thing is of one of degree, or, st-11 better, of execution in de- 
tails. In like manner an architect, having- explained to his pupils the plan com- 
mon to all Gothic churches, would show them the different modes in which the 
fundamental idea of this plan is carried out in the different churches of Europe." 

(21) " The human body," says George Pouchet in an excellent treatise on an- 
thropological studies (Revue de la Philosophie positive, 1866, No. 2), "furnishes to 
general anatomy not a single new fact. It neither possesses any special tissue 
nor any special anatomical element ; nay, it even lacks certain anatomical ele- 
mentary parts which are found in other Vertebrates — for example, the so-called 
electric tissue. This positively established point in general anatomy, as well as 
everything we know of the properties of organized matter, enables us already to 
recognize the worthlessness of certain anthropological theories. It is now fully 
proved that all functions and all faculties of the living being can be reduced to 
the properties of the elements and tissues of which it is composed. We prefer 
the term function for the phenomena of what is called vegetative life, and faculty 
for certain phenomena of 'animal life;' but the faculties just as much as the 
functions, are only the external manifestation or interpretation (traduction) of 
certain properties which reside in organized matter, and especially in certain ana- 
tomical elements. In order, therefore, to justify the admission of the existence of 
a new and essentially peculiar faculty in man, such, for instance, as has been 
made out of "religiousness" at least a peculiar anatomical tissue for it would 
have to be specified ; for a faculty unconnected with the other animal faculties, 
and independent of an organic basis, is now-a-days inconceivable, except in con- 
tradiction to all our anatomical knowledge. 

" If we pass from general to comparative anatomy, we here also find no phe- 
nomenon of importance which is absolutely proper to man, except the volume 
of his cerebral hemispheres. All the other characters are subordinate and of 
equal value with the differences observed between the Mammalia themselves. If 
we were determined to find the sign of man's predominance in his upright gait 
or in the arrangement of the tendons of his hands, our judgment would be like 
that of the Athenian philosopher who defined man as ' an animal with two legs 
and without feathers.' Diogenes threw a plucked fowl to him over the walls of 
the academy, thus ridiculing the wretched logic of the master." 

(22) On this affair of Professor Owen, and on the general question of man's 
place in nature, Prof. Broca, in his Report for 1863, (Report on the Transactions 
of the Anthropological Society of Paris), expresses himself as follows : 

"From the zoological or anatomical point of view, man differs less from the 
four higher Apes than they do from the rest of the apes. With them he consti- 
tutes a natural group, the Anthropomorpha, of which he forms only the first sub- 
division ; and our learned colleague, Prof. Charles Martins, of Montpellier, has 
made us acquainted with two new osteological characters which are met with in 
this group alone. . . . Man is man through his intellect ; and if he be dis- 
tinct from the lower animals, he must be so by virtue of his brain, which is the 
organ of intelligence. Nevertheless anatomy finds between the brain of the 



302 APPENDIX. 

chimpanzee and that of the lord of the earth only slight differences of form and 
constitution, which have been pointed out by M. Auburtin. The distinctive 
marks asserted by Prof. Owen have been repeatedly recognized as inaccurate. 
The higher apes, like ourselves, possess a posterior lobe of the cerebrum, a posterior 
cornu of the large lateral ventricle of the brain, and a hippocampus minor ; and 
nothing in the order of things, except the very cousiderable difference of volume 
and the unequal abundance of the secondary convolutions, entitles us to assume 
a decided, absolute difference between the brain of the lowest man and that of 
the highest ape." 

(23) As early as 1861, Huxley pointed out, as the only differences between the 
brain of the ape and that of man, the following: — 1, in the ape the brain, in 
comparison with the nerves which issue from it, is smaller than in man ; 2, in 
the ape the cerebrum, in comparison with the cerebellum, is not so large as in 
man ; 3, the convolutions are less complex and more symmetrical in the simian 
than in the human brain ; 4, the hemispheres are rounder and deeper, and the pro- 
portions of the individual lobes to one another more varied. Finally, in the simian 
brain certain windings and furrows are altogether wanting or only present in a 
rudimentary condition. At the meeting of the British Association in 1862, the 
anatomist Flower and Prof. Rolleston took part with Huxley in opposition to 
Owen ; and Rolleston would only admit as valid four differences between the 
human and the simian brain — two qualitative and two quantitative. These 
differences relate, 1, to weight and height ; 2, to the facial angle and the division 
of the windings and foldings of the brain. Thus Owen was quite isolated. 

In an altogether similar manner the French savant Gratiolet, perhaps the 
highest authority in the department of cerebral anatomy, expresses himself on 
the difference between the human and the simian brain. He says that the former 
has throughout, the same type (character of formation) as the brain of the ape. 
The cerebellum of the ape is quite covered behind by the cerebrum. This latter 
has very much reduced olfactory lobes, and large cornua to the lateral ventricles. 
The optic nerve vanishes, as in man, almost entirely in the large hemispheres of 
the brain ; while in the other Mammalia it has its own centre, the corpo?-a quad- 
rigemina. The convolutions, too, are essentially the same, even to some varia- 
tions. Hence all the differences relate only to subordinate characters ; and the 
most essential of them relate to the development of the convolutions during fcetal 
life. 

.Mayer (Verhandl. der Nieder?-hein. Gesellschaft filr Naturkunde, Nov. 7, 
1862) indicates as a principal characteristic of the brain of the ape in comparison 
with that of man, together with the smoother upper surface of the posterior 
lobe, " the tapering of the anterior lobe, and the great concavity of its under 
surface." Indeed, besides the difference of size, the development of the anterior 
or frontal lobes being so much inferior to that of the rest of the brain, may es- 
tablish the most essential distinction of the simian from the human brain ; as is 
well known, the frontal lobes stand in an altogether special relation to intelli- 
gence and have recently been recognized as the proper seat of the organs of the 
exceedingly important faculty of speech. Hence, then, by his protruding, broad 
and strongly developed forehead, which corresponds to the fore part of the cere- 
brum, man is very essentially distinguished, even at the first glance, from all 



APPENDIX. 303 

animals, and especially from his cousins, the anthropoid apes. In this respect a 
transition between man and animal is formed by the negro, whose narrow and 
retreating form of foreheal is likewise connected with a proportionately smaller 
development of the anterior lobes of the cerebrum, and who not in this respect 
alone, but also in the formation of the rest of his brain, as well as the structure 
of his whole body, is well known to have many perceptible resemblances to the 
ape. According to Huschke, the brain of the negro, by the preponderance of its 
long diameter, the incompleteness of its convolutions, the shallowness and nar- 
rowness of its anterior hemispheres, the roundish form of its cerebellum, the 
largeness of its so-called vermiform process a:.d the proportionally larger pineal 
gland, stands decidedly at a lower and less perfect stage of development, corre- 
sponding on the one hand to the form of a new-born European infant, and on 
the other to that of the animals next to man. Generally, the differences in brain 
between higher and lower races of men are quite the same as those between the 
brains of man and ape. Prof. J. Marshall (Proceedings of the Royal Society) 
found in the brain of an old Bushwoman, which was very small (weighing only 
21%" ounces), the convolutions much less developed, simpler and less marked by 
secondary furrows (sulci) than the brain of European women, — as generally a 
stronger or more numerous formation of sulci, according to R. Wagner ( Vor- 
studien, &c), occurs in the brains of persons of extraordinary intelligence, and is 
characteristic of them. The observations of the same gentleman have established 
the important fact that in the brains of human f cetuses of five or six months 
there is met with a formation perfectly like that in the lowest ape. This fact 
confirms afresh the old principle of organic morphology, that the human embryo 
repeats in its successive transformations the forms of the lower animals, which 
have remained at those lower stages of development. 

In relation to the distinction of the human from the animal brain, the greatest 
weight has always, and rightly, been attached to relative size, although size by 
itself is only a rough or imperfect standard for the determination of the mental 
value of a brain ; for, on the one hand, it is essential to consider the ratio cf the 
size of the body to that of the brain, and, on the other, the grey substance only, 
which covers the surface of the brain, can be regarded as the seat of consciousness 
and of the higher mental activities, while the white substance is rather the con- 
ductor and medium of the nerve-forces which flow t 3 and from the brain. Hence, 
then, the great value and significance of the furrows and convolutions of the 
brain ; for the more numerous and deeper these are, the greater the development 
of the grey substance. 

It is not surprising then, if, for example, the brain of the elephant, weighing 
from 8 to 10 lbs., exceeds the human brain in absolute size by more than as much 
again ; yet the ratio of its weight to that of the whole animal amounts to only 
TrtWg-, while the human brain makes up J=- or JL of the whole body. The whale's 
brain also exceeds the human brain in absolute size. The brain of man and that 
of an r >anthropoid ape are more comparable in respect of absolute size, since here 
the proportions of the size of the body nearly agree, while the human brain far 
exceeds that of these apes in volume and weight ; for while Welcker estimates 
the average cranial capacity of an adult man to be 1375 cubic centimetres, he says 
that of the largest of the anthropoids, the gorilla, never exceeds 500. Expressed 
in cubic inches, the cranial capacity of the Gorilla varies from 26 to 34 cubic 



304 APPENDIX. 

inches, while that of Caucasian man amounts to from 92-114, and in individual 
cases still more. Of course this very considerable difference is again very much 
reduced in the case of the colored or lower races of men, as Malays, Chinese, 
negroes, American Indians, &c, the capacities of whose crania, according to the 
accurate measurements of Morton, Prof. Wyman and others, are as low as from 
85 to 75 cubic inches, and those of the Hottentots and Alfurus have minima of 
65 and 63 cubic inches. Individual Hindoo skulls are said to have been met with 
having an internal capacity of no more than 46 cubic inches. The average 
cranial capacity of the gorilla amounts to 26-29 cubic inches, that of various apes 
or the much smaller chimpanzee to 21-26. The cranial space of human microce- 
phali or " small heads " may even fall considerably beloiv the mean of the simian. 

As to weight, human brains have been known of 2, 3, 4, and even nearly 5 
pounds, while the brain of a large ox or horse does not weigh 2 pounds. Negro- 
brains weigh, on the average, about 3 lb.* ; while the weight of brain of the large 
anthropoid apes varies from 10 to 20 oz. According to Huxley, it is doubtful 
whether a healthy brain of an adult man ever weighs less than 31 or 32 ounces 
(or about 2 lb.), and whether the heaviest gorilla-brain ever exceeded 20 ounces ; 
while he gives the weight of the largest known human brain as 65 or 66 ounces 
(4 lb. 2 oz.). Moreover, R. Owen, in the 3rd vol. of his Attatomy of the Verte- 
brata (1868), states that the brain of an Australian woman weighed 32 ounces, 
that of a Bushwoman only 30^ ounces, while the brain of Cuvier, the celebrated 
anatomist, weighed 64 ounces (or 4 lb.). 

The so-called Camper's facial angle, which is a good index of the development 
of the anterior portion of the brain, amounts in the Caucasian race to 80-85 , in 
the negro to 65-70 , in the Neanderthal skull to 56-66 , and in the orang and 
chimpanzee to not quite 50 . Besides, all the proportions of the skull and brain 
are disproportionately more favorable as to form in young apes than in full-grown 
or old ones, the chief reason being that after birth the simian skull no longer 
continues to advance pari passu with the other parts, but, is retarded in its de- 
velopment and finally remains stationary, similarly to the skulls of microcephalic 
or little-headed men. 

(24) These lowest kinds of organic propagation were for a long time, during 
the earliest periods of the earth's history and its peopling with organic life, the 
only ones generally subsisting, and are even now widespread in the lowest re- 
gions of animal and vegetable life, under the name of asexual propagation or 
atnphigony (Haeckel). The simplest organic corpuscles we are acquainted with, 
and which consist of merely an amorphous minute clot of mucus, the so-called 
Monerez, propagate themselves only by a circular constriction of the substance of 
their body and a consequent self-division. The so-called cells, and those organ- 
isms which consist only of simple cells (as for example, the Amcebce), do the same 
only with this difference, that in them a constriction and division of the nucleus 
precedes. Higher organisms, those consisting of groups of cells, also propagate 
themselves by division — as, for instance, the coral-animals. — Gemmatioii is not 
less widespread than propagation by division ; it takes place by a prominence 

* In the American war 141 negro brains were weighed, the average weight of 
which amounted to 46. 96 oz., while the weighings of another observer brought 
out a mean of 45 oz. The largest of these 141 brains weighed 56 oz., or 3% lb., 
the smallest, only 35 % oz. 



APPENDIX. 305 

rising from the original (one- or more-celled) organism, becoming larger and 
larger, and finally either separating from the parent organism as an independent 
being, or else, while remaining connected with the latter, yet carrying on an in- 
dependent life and growth of its own. Bud-formation is more general in the vege- 
table than in the animal kingdom. — With bud-formation is closely connected a 
third and a fourth mode of asexual propagation, or that by the formation of 
spores and germ-buds, in which the parent organism forms in its interior single 
cells or groups of cells, which afterwards quit it and are further developed by 
themselves. This formation, in which only a very minute portion of the produc- 
ing organism effects the propagation, conducts us at once to sexual generation, 
which is the usual one among all the higher animals and plants ; its characteris- 
tic is that the female ovum or germ-cell must be fertilized by. male semen in order 
to attain the capability of further development. Moreover, two separate individ- 
uals of different sexes are not always required, since in the case of her?naphrodites 
a single individual combines in itself both generative elements. It is evident that 
the separation of the sexes was developed from the formation of hermaphrodites 
and first took place at a much later period in the earth's history. It is now the 
general mode of propagation of the higher animals, while, on the contrary, it is 
found in a smaller number of cases among plants. In it the female individuals 
form only ova, the male only semen, or (among plants) pollen-grains. An inter- 
esting transition-form between asexual and sexual generation is what is called 
partheno-genesis or (virgin generation), which is frequent among the Articulata ; 
here the germ-cells, perfectly resembling in appearance ovum-cells, develop into 
new individuals without any need of the fertilizing semen. In many cases, from 
the same germ-cells different individuals spring, according to whether they have 
been fertilized or not : thus, of the honey-bees, males (the drones) spring from not 
fertilized, females or workers from fertilized ova. (According to Hasckel : Natiir- 
liche Schbpfungsgeschichte, 1868.) 

(25) The discovery of this pair of bones, which, present in all Mammalia, are 
situated between the upper jaw-bones proper, and bear the four upper incisors, 
was rendered difficult in man because they very early coalesce with the upper 
jaw-bones (maxillaries), and are only recognizable in the skulls of very young 
subjects. In human embryos the intermaxillary may be exhibited at any time ; 
and in some few individuals it is preserved distinct during their whole life. This 
discovery, of course, rendered quite untenable the opinion of the older natural- 
ists, that the intermaxillary constituted a prime mark of distinction between man 
and ape. 

Moreover, Dr. Carus has recently discovered an independent intermaxillary in 
the skulls of two Greenlanders and expressed his opinion that this character is 
perhaps common to all Greenlanders' skulls. The separation is described by 
Carus as like that found in the skulls of ^the fcetus, as well as in those of quadru- 
peds ; hence it points to an approximation towards the formation belonging to 
the lower animals. 

(26) In support of his views M. Schaaffhausen called attention to a series of 
facts and investigations which have now become the common talk of the day, as : 
— the existence of the large anthropoid apes (which even in Cuvier's time were 
held to be fabulous animals), and their approach to the human form ; the forms, 



306 APPENDIX. 

discovered by geology and palaeontology, showing the transition from tertiary to 
recent times ; the probability of the discovery of fossil or petrified human bones ; 
the investigations concerning primitive man and his rude, animal-like condition ; 
the resemblance of the lower human races, and especially the negro, to apes and 
other animals ; the occasional approximations of the human structure to that of 
beasts ; the importance of inheritance in relation to body and mind ; the neces- 
sary connection between bodily (especially cerebral) organization and intelligence, 
&c, &c. As regards the human reason, which is generally considered an insur- 
mountable barrier between man and animal, it is, according to Schaaffhausen, 
only " the result of a finer and more complete organization," as the human body 
can only be regarded as the finest and most perfect expression of animal organi- 
zation, — it is not a gift of Heaven bestowed equally on all men, nations and 
times, but a result of universal human education ; while even in beasts an incipi- 
ent tendency to all the activities of the human mind is to be pointed out, and in 
a higher degree the nearer they approach to man ; for in the animal mind, 
banished to a narrow sphere, the fundamental forces of the human mind are 
latent. Thus reason is " that higher qualification which proceeds from the pro- 
portionate development and completion of all our soul's faculties, to which the 
human family has been gradually matured, and which will conduct it to ever 
greater intelligence," &c. "The speech, too, of wild tribes, compared with the 
languages of cultivated peoples, is poor in words and inflections ; many sounds 
are absent. What is there against the supposition that it has been developed 
from rude beginnings, from simple tones ?" 

In a treatise written in 1853 (therefore six years previous to Darwin's) on the 
constancy and the transformation of species, which already with forcible reasons 
combated the dogma of their unalterability and vindicated the transformation 
theory even against men like Baer, Vogt and Burmeister, we read: "Should it 
be thought derogatory to man to regard him as the last and highest development 
of animal life, and derive all the superiority of his nature from the perfection of 
his organism . . . especially as a series of most telling facts evidence the 
approximation of the most highly developed ape to the lowest type of man most 
clearly ? But if all the facts speak convincingly for a gradual transition from the 
most recent geological period to the present state of things, a like conclusion 
must be valid also for the earlier periods less known to us, and the whole creation 
must appear as a series of organisms connected by propagation and development." 

A few years later the author, in his lecture Ueber den Zusammenhang der 
Natur- und Lebens-Erscheinungen (1858), felt himself justified in expressing 
positively his conviction of the grand unity of all nature, animate and inanimate, 
and all her phenomena — a unity which previously scarcely any one had ventured 
to anticipate. "Superstition and miracle," says the author, "it is true, vanish 
before the new natural philosophy, but not the greatest miracle, the self-consistent 
universe ! Knowledge is never a clog to the freest thought ; it can only give new 
wings to the imagination." The discourse concluded with the prophetic words : 

" It has always been conceded that the idea of a gradual development of organic 
life by a continually operating creation is bold and magnificent ; but it was 
supposed to be void of truth. It will be 710 little satisfaction to the oftefi erring 
human 7nind when it shall be shown that the most exalted thought we can con- 
ceive of nature is also the truest /" 



APPENDIX. 307 

(27) Nevertheless, and in spite of the materialistic sentiment here and else- 
where so openly expressed, Mr. Huxley (probably alarmed at his own boldness 
and vexed at the shock given to his bigoted and stiff-minded countrymen) has re- 
cently thought it necessary to give a categorical negative to the worn-out, but 
still always dreaded, accusation of materialism, thus abjuring, at least to a certain 
degree, the bold spirit with which he six years previously opposed the prejudices 
of his time and the outcry of ignorance. At any rate, the defence contained in 
an article in the February number of the Fortnightly Review for 1869 (which 
created so great a sensation in England that several editions of the number con- 
taining it quickly followed one another) is so ambiguous in expression that at its 
conclusion the reader is not at all sure whether Mr. Huxley has been pleading for 
or against materialism. Only one thing is clear, namely, the declaration, "per- 
sonally I am not a materialist ; on the contrary, I believe that materialism con- 
tains grave philosophic error." Nevertheless all the arguments in the article are 
as materialistic as possible and are sustained by a materialistic sentiment and 
fundamental view, and the conclusions arrived at are altogether materialistic. 
That anti-materialistic avowal, therefore, can only have been possible to Mr. 
Huxley by his accepting a current error which has been a hundred times refuted, 
but still is ever repeated, and taking materialism in the sense of a philosophic 
system resting on a priori speculation. This designation may, perhaps, have 
been deserved by the materialism of former ages, although that always, far more 
than all the opposite tendencies, relied on experience and actual fact ; while the 
materialism of modern times does not deserve that designation and ought much 
rather to be named a method than a system. The distinction made by Mr. Huxley 
between materialistic method and materialistic system, adopting the former and 
rejecting the latter, is quite inadmissible. No one, Mr. Huxley included, can now 
say whither the materialistic method, which now a-days is universally predominant 
in natural science, will in time lead us in the explanation of natural occurrences, 
and whether it may not even bring us nearer and nearer to the much-abused 
materialistic system. It is therefore very precipitate and at least imprudent, to 
turn round upon general consequences or convictions, to the bringing on of 
which the works of those who now oppose them have most of all contributed. 
Science cannot advance merely by experiment and observation ; supposition and 
hypothesis are also necessary and have always been the most decided pioneers of 
scientific progress. What we do not know, we try to guess ; what we are unable 
to guess, we try to investigate ; and what we cannot yet investigate, we must at 
least try to define as sharply as possible as a problem for future investigation. 
No means must appear to us too insignificant by which we may hope to come 
nearer the truth. Nothing, then, is more ridiculous than that pride of not know- 
ing, with which so many respectable men of science are at present fond of acting 
in opposition to materialistic endeavors. Apart from the fact that actual igno- 
rance often hides behind this pompous profession of not knowing, it betrays very 
little ardor for investigation when men are always trying to push into the fore- 
ground the unknown, and very little penetration not to see that the entirely rela- 
tive conceptions of knowing and not knowing cannot in this wise be pushed 
asunder and contrasted ; for, however much we may know, learn, and experience, 
behind it all there will always remain the territory of the unknown, immeasurable 
and to our power of conception, impossible to estimate. Then always forward 



308 APPENDIX. 

into this unknown land ! never backward ! must be the watchword of every in- 
vestigator and man of science animated by a genuine love of truth. 

Yet we find Mr. Huxley himself, in the above-mentioned article, induced to 
declare that the order of nature is determinable by our faculties to an unbounded 
degree, and in another place he puts without hesitation " matter" and "natural 
law " as the two conceptions which in future are destined to set aside all other 
methods of explanation. "And as certainly," he says, " as every future is com- 
posed of a present and a past, so surely will the natural science of the future more 
and more extend the empire of matter and natural law, till it becomes synony- 
mous with knowledge, sense and action ! The consciousness of this great truth 
weighs, it seems to me, like a nightmare upon many of the best spirits of the 
present time. They watch what they call the spread of materialism with the 
same feelings of terror and impotent anguish which the savage experiences, during 
a solar eclipse, when he sees the great shadow creeping over the face of the sun." 

How little share, moreover, Mr. Huxley's inmost conviction can have in his op- 
position to materialism, is as evident as such a thing can be from the following 
sentences, which he has ventured to write in an article entitled Positivism and the 
Seience of the Present {Revue des Cours Scientifiques, Oct., 1869), when en- 
deavoring to repel Mr. Congreve's animadversions on his attacks upon the French 
philosopher Comte in his treatise The Physical Basis of Life : " If there is any 
thing which is clear in the present progress of science, it is the tendency to reduce 
all scientific questions, with the exception of purely mathematical ones, to what 
is called molecular physics, that is, to the attraction, repulsion, motion and com- 
bination of the smallest particles of matter." And further: "The phenomena 
of biology (the scieuce of life) are as immediately related to molecular physics as 
are those of chemistry ; and this is a fact acknowledged by all chemists and biolo- 
gists who see beyond their own immediate occupation." If this is not a material- 
istic confession of faith in its best form, coming very near to " materialism as a 
system,'' the difference between Mr. Huxley's views and those of the Author can 
only lie in the difference between their apprehensions of theideaof " materialism." 

(28) " The lower jaw from La Naulette," says Prof. Schaaffhausen (Ueber die 
Urform des me7ischlichen Schadels, 1868), " shows a clearly animal prognathism 
(oblique-toothedness) in the absence of a chin, a feature so important in the ex- 
pression of the human countenance. Here the upper jaw takes part in the prog- 
nathism by forming behind the cutting-teeth an obliquely directed surface. This 
striking formation had not hitherto been observed ; it is presented in a less de- 
gree in the fossil jaws from Arcy ; I find it also in the very ancient piece of a 
lower jaw-bone from Fritzlar, in a young jaw from Uelde, in which the canine 
tooth projects nearly 4 millimetres beyond the molar, and in the lower jaw from 
Grevenbriick, which also in the elliptic form of the dental arch betrays the low 
grade of its possessor." (This ellipticity, which is also possessed by the lower 
jaw from La Naulette, is due to the narrow base of the rude human skull and 
the projection of its upper jaws ; the dental arch of skulls of noble form being 
parabolic. Among savage races, the inferior Negroes, the Australians and 
especially the Malays, like the apes, exhibit this lengthened form of the dental 
arch.) 

" The shape of the forehead of the Neanderthal skull," says Schaaffhausen in 



APPENDIX. 309 

another place in the same treatise, ' ' the dentition and the form of the lower jaw 
from La Naulette and the prognathism of some children's jaws of the Stone Age 
of Western Europe excel in animal-resemblance any thing of this kind which can 
be observed among living savages," and, in a Report on the Transactions of 
Scientific Congresses, he connects therewith the amply justified expectation, that 
" tertiary Man " would " bring us still more distinct tokens of animal form." 

A report to the London Anthropological Society by Dr. Carter Blake, the 
Secretary, on the jaw from La Naulette and the condition of the place where it 
was found, is contained in the July and October Parts of the Anthropological 
Review, 1S67, p. 294 et seq. It appears therefrom that with the jaw were found 
a human ulna, two human teeth and a fragment of a worked Reindeer-horn. 
After a close comparison with more than 3000 jaws of various races of men, he 
comes to the conclusion that the Naulette jaw was contemporary with the mam- 
moth and rhinoceros a'd presents characters which approximate it to those of 
the colored races of man, especially the Australian, or even go beyond what is 
found in them. He will not " venture to deny its indubitable similarity to the 
jaw of a young ape." 

(29) If the idea of species is indefinite, that of race is so, if possible, in a still 
higher degree, and consequently furnishes the clearest proof of the want of de- 
terminate marks of distinction between the different species of man and of the 
existence of innumerable intermediate forms and transitional stages. The num- 
ber of human races distinguished by different men of science at different times 
has varied from two or three to fifteen ! and yet each writer has his special char- 
acters, according to which he undertakes the distinction of the races, as color, 
hair, form of skull or face, geographical distribution, &c. The most popular 
classification of human races, and at the same time the simplest, is that of Link 
and Cuvier, who distinguish only Caucasians (white men), Mongols (yellow men), 
and Ethiopians (black men) ; while the celebrated Blumenbach added the Red or 
American and the Brown or Malayan Race ; and according to Schaaffhausen 
there are properly only two distinct races — an Asiatic, and an African — between 
which all the other forms may be arranged. Baer distinguishes six, Prichard 
seven, Bromme ten, Desmoulins and Pickering eleven, Bory de St. -Vincent fifteen 
races, and so on. 

Alteration of climate, change of dwelling-place or of external circumstances 
generally alter races, although never to such a degree as to make them quite un- 
recognizable ; for a new race is never a simple product, but always a result of two 
causes — one represented by the primitive race, and the other by the nature of 
the medium. Hence two different races (for example, the Aryan and the Semitic) 
may both be very much altered in a foreign climate and yet never become one 
and the same race. Overlooking this important point gave rise to many miscon- 
ceptions and false opinions in the old controversy on the unity or plurality of the 
human species. Moreover, some races can thrive very well, even in foreign cli- 
mates, and propagate their peculiarities : for instance, the Jews, the Canadians, 
the New-Hollanders, the European inhabitants of the Cape of Good Hope, &c. 

(30) Mr. Wallace (see The Malayan Archipelago, London, 1868) was so fortu- 
nate as to come into possession of a very young, uninjured female Orang and to 
keep it alive for nearly three months. During this time he was able to observe 



3IO APPENDIX. 

its behavior closely and was astonished to see how much it resembled that of a 
human child. "Thus," says he, "the poor little thing began to lick its lips, 
draw in its cheeks and turn up its eyes with an expression of the greatest satis- 
faction when it got a morsel that suited its taste. On the other hand, when its 
food was not sufficiently sweet or savory, it turned over the piece a moment with 
its tongue, as if it would try the flavor, and then spat it out. If the same aliment 
was continued, it began to scream and to stamp with its feet, just like a child in 
a passion. It was its usual tactic to scream, if it thought itself neglected and 
wished to attract attention, although it exhibited its mental superiority to the 
human child by gradually ceasing to scream when no notice was taken, but im- 
mediately began again if it heard any one's footstep. During its illness, which 
ran its course like an intermittent fever and killed it, it exhibited phenomena alto- 
gether human-like." 

Mr. Wallace also communicates many interesting details respecting the adult 
Orang. The most remarkable is its custom of preparing itself a sleeping-place 
for the night. He saw an animal that had been wounded by a shot, immediately 
seek for safety at the summit of an immense tree. " It was in the highest degree 
interesting to me to observe," says our authority, " how excellently he selected his 
place, and with what agility he stretched out his unwounded arm on all sides, 
broke off strong boughs with the greatest quickness and ease and placed them 
one over another, so that in a few moments he had formed a leafy hut that quite 
concealed him from our view." Mr. Wallace also remarks that on three occasions 
he saw the Orang, when irritated, hurl branches of trees to the ground. The 
Orang, moreover, is feared more on account of his strength than his size ; and 
the natives told Mr. Wallace that, of all animals of the forest, only the Crocodile 
and the gigantic serpent (Pyt/w?i) ventured to attack the Orang, and he generally 
conquered them. 

According to Grant (Account of the Structure of an Orang-outang, 1828), the 
Orang, when agreeably excited, is even capable of a sort of laugh ; this is espec- 
ially worthy of notiee, because laughter has mostly been designated as an exclusive 
prerogative of humanity. On the other hand, he gives distinct signs of his des- 
peration or grief. Grant says of the Orang observed by him : " He emptied his 
porringer upon the ground, whined in a peculiar manner and threw himself vehe- 
mently backwards to the earth, while he beat his chest and body with his hands 
and from time to time uttered a sort of groan." Dr. Yvan, who was attached to 
the French Expedition to China in the year 1843, tells us (Voyage et Recits, 
Bruxelles, 1S53) that Tuan (an Orang from the island of Borneo) clothed himself 
as soon as ever he could lay hold of any piece of stuff for the purpose.* One day, 
his master having taken away from him a mango-fruit, he set up a peevish howl- 
ing, like a vexed child. As this was not successful, he threw himself flat on his 
belly, beat the ground with his fist, screamed, wept and howled for more than 
half an hour. When at last the fruit was given back to him, he threw it at his 
master's head. His favorite companion was a Manilla negrito ; he was also fond 
of playing with children. " One day, when rolling on a mat with a girl between 
four and five years old, he suddenly ceased playing and devoted himself to the 

* The wearing of clothes, too, has been indicated as if it were an exclusive 
prerogative of man, although so many savage peoples go naked, and, as the 
above example shows, even animals exhibit a disposition to clothe themselves. 



APPENDIX. 311 

closest anatomical investigation of the child. The result much astonished him ; 
he retired to a corner and repeated on himself the same investigations that he 
had made on his little comrade." 

In the year 1836, the celebrated Geoffroy-St.-Hilaire, the learned naturalist, 
mingled with the crowd which the arrival of an orang drew to the Paris Zoologi- 
cal Garden, in order to hear an opinion on this animal from the mouths of people 
entirely without prejudice and unacquainted with the rules of systematic classifi- 
cation. The result surprised the philosopher himself ; all unanimously declared 
that the animal from Sumatra was neither an ape nor a man. " Neither the one 
nor the other," this was the universal impression experienced. 

Dr. Abel, at Java, had a young Orang-utan who used to prepare himself a 
proper bed every evening, with boughs and leaves, on a large tamarind tree that 
stood near the dwelling-house. Afterwards, on the voyage home with Dr. Abel, 
he used to make himself a bed with sail-cloths and rolled himself up therein. If 
canvas was not to be had, he would take the sailor's shirts and clothes which 
were hung up to dry. 

Vosmaer had an Orang-utan that exhibited the same cleverness in arranging 
his bed. 

W — r gives a similar account of the life of an Orang (Garten/ande, i860, No. 
2). When the ship, on board of which the ape was, came into colder parts, he 
never came on deck without bringing his woollen blanket and wrapping himself 
in it. His bed he accepted gladly, although he had never known such a thing 
previously ; and before sleeping in it twice or thrice, he made it each time. 
Every night he slept exactly twelve hours. In the kitchen, in order to play the 
cook a trick, he used to turn the water-cocks. Glass vessels, &c, in which he 
received wine or other drink, he never broke, but put them carefully aside after 
using. His features remained always alike, just as those of savages do. He died 
through drinking up a bottle of rum, which he had stolen, uncorked and emptied. 
During his illness, his pulse was often felt ; every time his master came to his 
bedside he stretched out his paw to him. 

A similar account is given of a Chimpanzee, who had been bled during an ill- 
ness, and every time he felt unwell stretched out his arm. 

Generally the large apes become in captivity and in intercourse with man, 
quite other beings than in the wild state. They become accustomed to wear 
clothes, drink out of glasses, use a spoon and a fork, uncork bottles, clean boots 
and brush clothes, and are even said to be employed at the Cape in a number of 
useful labors of the house and field. It is said that on ship-board they help to 
reef and furl the sails. They make themselves a bed with a raised pillow, show 
an inclination for ladies, light a fire and cook food thereon, dust furniture, clean 
the floor, try to open locks, &c. Buffon's celebrated Chimpanzee extended his 
hand to visitors, went arm in arm with them, ate at table sitting and with a nap- 
kin, used fork and spoon, wiped his mouth, poured out a glass, fetched coffee, 
put suga- in it, &c. A. Bastian saw on an English man of war, an ape sitting 
among the sailors and sewing as zealously as they. Josse tells of an Orang that 
was on good terms with all on board, except the butcher, whom he only ap- 
proached timidly, cautiously examining his hands. Degrandpre tells of a Chim- 
panzee that heated the oven, let no coals fall and summoned the baker when the 
oven was heated. Le Vaillant had an ape, whom he employed for seeking roots 



312 APPENDIX. 

and who sought to devour some secretly, but quickly concealed them whenever 
he was surprised. 

Werner M unzinger, the celebrated traveller, informs us that the apes who live 
in the vicinity of villages (for example, belonging to the famous Ape-State near 
Karen) are familiar with man and never do any thing to injure him ; while those 
of the lonely parts, who seldom get a sight of him, regard him as an enemy, and 
attack a solitary individual or only two together, but do not venture to approach 
several. 

The resemblance of the large apes to man makes the hunting of them very ex- 
citing and unpleasant ; and Du Chaillu, in his great work, has communicated 
some very interesting information thereon. Brehm (Gartenlaube, 1862, No. 40) 
says : " There is one thing very characteristic of the ape-hunters : even the most 
inured hunter cannot get rid of the idea that by killing an ape he has committed 
a murder. The demeanor of a dying ape is so human, that a cold shiver runs 
through one's frame when he has to recognize himself as his murderer." (It may 
here be remarked that the naturalist Schimper, who resided 28 years in Abyssinia, 
assured Brehm that the accounts of assaults by male apes on human females were 
no fables.) 

One day Dr. Boerlage, in Java, shot at some apes, and hit a mother. She fell, 
mortally wounded, from the tree, tightly clasping a young one in her arms, and 
died weeping. The scene was so affecting to him and his hunting companions, 
that they firmly resolved never again to shoot an ape. The sight of a dying Af- 
rican ape made a like impression on one of the officers of the British exploring 
expedition under Captain Owen. On the river Zaire he mortally wounded an 
ape, and was so affected that he determined never to seek such an amusement 
again. 

With regard to the large apes and their intelligence, compare further the state- 
ments of the author of the present work, following Du Chaillu, on the gorilla, 
the kulu-kamba, and the nschiegombouve or nest-building ape in Africa, at pp. 
297-307 of his collected essays Aus Natur wid Wisse?ischaft. 

(31) There are men and races of men, who have scarcely more understanding 
than certain animals, and have as little idea of religion or a moral world. The 
lowest among the Oceanians and Africans (as the aboriginal Australians, the 
South-Sea negroes, Bushmen, Central-Africans, &c , &c), are entirely destitute 
of general ideas or abstract notions Past and future concern them not ; they 
live only in the present. The Australian has no words to express the ideas of 
God, religion, righteousness, sin, &c. ; he knows almost no other sensation than 
that of the need of food, which he endeavors in every way to satisfy, and makes 
known to the traveller by grimaces. " In them the capability of considering and 
inferring," says Hale {Natives of Australia, &c, 1846), "appears to be very im- 
perfectly developed. The reasons which the colonists use in order to convince 
or persuade them are mostly such as are employed with children and half-imbe- 
ciles." 

An interesting letter (an abstract of which is given in No. 15 of the Ausland 
for 1861) from a Frankfort lady, wife of Dr. Bingmann, who, with her husband, 
emigrated to Australia, depicts the natives as a race below all others in the capa- 
bility of improvement. They live quite naked, in huts of bark, in which they 



APPENDIX. 313 

sleep with their dogs. They indolently endure hunger, thirst, cold and wet, eat 
anything, insects, serpents, worms, roots, berries, &c, have no fixed dwelling- 
place, no tribal property and are quite incapable of civilization. The mission- 
aries have long given up every attempt to civilize them ; for if one baptizes them, 
it has no more effect than the baptism of a dog or ahorse ; they understand noth- 
ing of the signification of the act. Each district has a different dialect ; so that 
at every 50 or 60 miles distance they cannot understand each other. Marriages 
are very loose ; infanticide is universal ; the aged are put to death. At ten or 
twelve years of age they are already full-grown ; and they live, on the average, 
not more than 36 years. Advanced age is very rare. Mentally, Madame Bing- 
man says, they are mere children ; they find amusement only in childish tricks 
and trifles. They live only in the present and think neither of the past nor the 
future. They cannot be taught any principles ; they are dead to all morality. 
They know no sentiment, no spiritual life, no love, no gratitude, but only un- 
bridled passion and the sense of their nothingness against the white races. Their 
complete extinction is now only a question of time. The men of Australia ap- 
pear, like the animals and plants of that country, to have remained at an earlier, 
imperfect stage, through being cut off from the rest of the world. 

In 1864, Prof. Schaaffhausen laid before the Niederrheinische Gesellschaft fur 
Natur- und Heilkunde some photographs of the natives (soon to become ex- 
tinct) of Van Diemen's Land, which he had received from the Rev. R. R. Nixon, 
the English Bishop in Tasmania, and remarked that they showed such a sur- 
prising resemblance to the apes as is presented by scarcely any other race of men. 
Nixon had been obliged to desist from all attempts at conversion, because the 
poverty of their language and conceptions rendered every higher religious idea 
impossible to them. 

The aborigines of New Caledonia, akin to the Fiji-Islanders and belonging to 
the Papuan group, have, according to the account of Von Rochas, no shame, go 
quite naked, and indulge in a number of sexual excesses of the basest kind. They 
have intelligence, as the beasts, but no moral emotions, are faithless in the highest 
degree, perjured, crafty, will strike any one down from behind, are cannibals, 
eating not merely their enemies, but even their own relatives, can only with great 
difficulty count the lowest numbers, use strong abortives, and bury the aged 
alive. If a chief is hungry, he straightway knocks down one of his subjects. — 

Turning from Australia to Africa, we encounter among the lowest human 
races there the same brutal degradation and irrationality. "It is sufficient,'' 
says Eichthal {Brief e iiber die Negerrasse, 1839), " to have seen black men and to 
have lived some time among them, in order to be convinced that here is presented 
a different hnman nature from that of white men." The experienced English 
• traveller Burton depicts the negro of East Africa as a being without any moral 
idea, or any thought reaching beyond the narrowest circle of things perceptible 
by the senses. He has or knows no conscience, no logic, no history, no poesy, 
no belief except the grossest superstition, no domestic life, no attachment to kin- 
dred, no inclination to labor, no gratitude, no compassion, no care for the future, 
&c. Mentally he is totally barren, and, though he can probably observe, he can 
deduce nothing from what he has observed. Hence he has remained at the first 
beginnings of civilization, and for thousands of years has made no progress, al- 
though he has had sufficient contact with cultivated peoples. He lies, even with- 



314 APPENDIX. 

out aim or profit, and is in the highest degree obstinate and self-willed, just as 
some animals are accustomed to be. His fetichism is only a rude, sensual super- 
stition, the expression of abject terror. If he has killed any one, his only concern 
is lest the ghost of the murdered man should molest him. He combines all the 
incapacity and credulity of childhood with the obstinacy and stupidity of age. 

Similar was the experience of the celebrated traveller Sir S. W. Baker in the 
region of the sources of the Nile (Exploration of the Nile-Sources, 1866). The 
Kytsch negroes, on the White Nile, he calls mere apes, and says that for their 
nourishment they trust solely to what nature supplies. They lie for hours on 
the ground, waiting till they can seize a field-mouse. They go perfectly naked 
and smear their body with ashes. " Savages so dreadfully degraded," says Baker, 
" I never saw before." The mission to the negroes of Sudan is perfectly useless. 
Moorlang, the missionary, says of them that they are inferior to cattle and inac- 
cessible to all moral feeling. Baker made the same observation am.ong the Latuka 
negroes, a tribe in the interior of Africa. They know neither gratitude, nor sym- 
pathy, nor self-denial ; they have no idea of duty or religion, know nothing that 
is good, honorable, or honest, but only lust, selfishness, cruelty, and above all, 
violence. They are thievish, lazy, envious, and ever ready to plunder their 
weaker fellows and to sell them into slavery. 

The same holds gocd of innumerable other African tribes, as of the Mpongwes 
in Central Africa (of whom the American missionary John Leighton, who lived 
four years among them, reports that they possess neither religion, nor priests, nor 
sacrifice, nor religious assemblies), of the Bechuanas (of whom Livingstone, 
Andersson and others have given accounts), of the Kaffirs, the Hottentots, the 
Bushmen (which latter are accustomed to be reckoned among the most degraded 
of the races of men and live on the steppes of Southern Africa, in holes in the 
earth dug out with their hands, feeding on insects, worms and small birds, which 
they swallow unplucked), &c. All that these tribes know, or think they know of 
God, has first been brought to them by the missionaries. 

Moreover, all these tribes are exceeded in brutal ferocity by the Dokos, who in- 
habit the south of Shoa, an unexplored region of Abyssinia, and of whom the 
missionary Dr. L. Krapf, in an English work on his eighteen years' stay and his 
travels in East Africa, gives very copious information from the statements of a 
slave of Ennrea. The Dokos are human pigmies, growing not higher than 4 
feet, their complexion dark olive. They wander in the woods and live in an 
utterly brutish manner, without habitations, or temples, or holy trees, and so 
forth. They go quite naked, feed on roots, fruits, mice, serpents, ants and honey, 
and clamber about the trees like monkeys. They have no chief, no law, no 
weapons, no wedlock, no family, and indulge in promiscuous intercourse like the 
beasts, whereby they increase very fast. Mothers suckle their children only a 
-short time and then abandon them. They hunt not, dig not, sow not, and are 
7iot even acquainted with the use of fire. Yet they decorate themselves with 
necklaces of snake's bones. They have thick lips, a flat nose, little eyes, long 
hair and long nails on the fingers and toes, with which they root in the earth. 
They are taken by stronger races and used as slaves. Du Chaillu, in his travels 
in Equatorial Africa in 1863-64, found a race of men called the Obongo or dwarfs. 
Their stature amounts to from 4 to 5 feet ; their skin is dirty yellow, they have a 
narrow forehead, but prominent cheek-bones, and an untamably fierce look. 



APPENDIX. 315 

Their leg's are short, their chest and thighs covered with woolly hair. They live 
by hunting, on roots and wild fruits, bury their dead in hollow trees, speak a 
peculiar language, and live in huts made of leaves. (See Ausland, 1867, 
No. 14.) 

In Karl von Hiigel's work, Der stille Ocean und die spanischen Besitzungen 
im ost-indischen Archipel (Vienna, i860, printed as a manuscript), there is a very 
similar communication on the aborigines of the Philippine Islands. This dis- 
tinguished naturalist says (p. 358) : — "The aborigines of the Philippine Islands, 
as previously mentioned, are more than probably that black race of men whom 
the Spaniards named, on account of their small negro form, negorillos de monies, 
or dwarf negroes of the mountains. I saw several of them in Manilla, who had 
been captured in childhood and now appeared contented in their condition, per- 
haps like a parrot, which becomes tame if brought up from the nest, and then is 
contented with its daily food. To the captured adult, on the contrary, as to all 
these black aborigines, unrestrained freedom is dearer than a life quiet and free 
from care ; and if compelled to remain, although abundantly supplied with every 
necessary, it is said they die of home-sickness. This negro lives like a wild ani- 
mal in the mountains and woods ; he is of an ungainly figure, dwarfish size, with 
, emaciated a?-ms and legs, a lea7i body covered with black and red hairs ; the hair 
of his head black and woolly. The wild negrillo is not a sociable being; he al- 
ways lives by himself alone or with his wife if he can procure one. This pecu- 
liarity has added to the difficulty of civilizing them or making of them domestic 
animals. Without any fixed dwelling, they traverse mountains and woods and 
sleep under trees, which is rendered possible by the absence of voracious beasts. 
They live by fishing and hunting, and can use their arrows very dexterously. 
These negrillos dwell only on the mountains of St. Matteo and Maribeles and in 
the province of Ilocos Norte. In the Island of Negros, which is so named from 
them, they are numerous. That they have a peculiar and probably very poor 
language is a matter of course ; the nature of this, and whether, as is probable, 
the negrillos in different provinces speak different dialects, I could not ascertain ; 
no one in Manilla was in a position to inform me ; the negrillos are there gener- 
ally regarded and treated as nothing better than a sort of apes." The toes of 
these savages, who dwell either in holes of the earth or in trees, are very movable 
and more widely separated than ours ; the great toe especially is distant from the 
rest. With them, as with fingers, they hold themselves fast to boughs of trees 
and to ropes. 

The other islands of the great East-Indian archipelago also harbor numerous 
similar tribes of men, some of which if possible still nearer approach mere animal 
nature. In the interior of the large island Borneo, savages 4 feet high, of dark 
complexion, with wrinkled skin covered with hair, have been found, who know 
neither dwelling-place nor family, who sleep in caves, or on trees, live on vermin 
and eat one another. They can neither be tamed nor be employed for any work- 
They have a human countenance ; but their speech resembles rather a brutal 
gabble than a human mode of expression. On the island of Sumatra, Mr. Gibson, 
an American, had an opportunity of seeing a so-called Orang-A'abu, or aborigine. 
He went quite naked ; and his body was covered all over with soft dark hair. It 
is said that the Orang-Kabu has no language of his own, but only learns with 
great labor to pronounce a few Malay words. The same traveller mentions an- 



316 APPENDIX. 

other tribe, the Orang-Gugur, whose body likewise, exhibits a very great resem- 
blance to an ape's. 

De la Gironniere tells of the Ajetas, who inhabit the interior of Luzon (one of 
the Philippine Islands) : — " The people appeared to me more like a great family 
of apes than human beings. The sound they made was like the short shriek of 
those animals ; and their movements were the same. The difference consisted 
solely in knowing the use of the bcw and the spear and how to make a fire." (W. 
Earl, Native Races of the Indian Archipelago, London, 1853.) — 

If we turn from the Indian islands to the continent of Asia, we meet here also, 
in the inaccessible wilds of India, with human beings (probably the remains of 
the ancient primitive population), who at first sight leave the observer in doubt 
whether he has before him men or anthropoid apes. One day, in the solitudes of 
the vast jungles, the Old Shikari {The Hunting-grounds of the Old World, by 
the Old Shekarry, quoted in the Ausland, i860, No. 39), met with wild men who 
lived on trees. There were a man, a woman and a child, dark olive-colored, the 
largest of them not higher than 4 feet. They had no clothing ; their eyes were 
small and piercing and their face wrinkled ; the nose was flat, the mouth wide, 
the teeth large and yellow, the arms long and shrivelled, the nails like claws. 
The discoverer took them at first to be in fact apes, and had to look at them some 
time in order to become convinced that they were human. With this agrees the 
information given by Piddington, an English colonist, in the Journal of the 
Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. XXIV., p. 207 (quoted in the Ausland, 1855, No. 
50), on the Indian " ape men," as well as the account given by von Hugel 
(Amtlicher Bericht der Versammlung deutscher Naturforscher und Aerzte in 
Prag, 1837, p. 44), of the inhabitants of some of the hill-parts of India, whom he 
classes with the New-Hollanders, because they had not yet arrived at forming a 
horde, and scarcely a family was found united. Man and woman live isolated ; 
and when by chance any one meets with them they take refuge like monkeys on 
the trees. Piddington describes the one seen by him as "small, flat-nosed, with 
gaping arched wrinkles round the mouth and on the cheeks, with very long arms, 
and with reddish hair on the coarse black skin. " Had he been seen," he adds, 
"crouching in a dark corner or on a tree, he would have been taken for a large 
orang-utan." 

One of the newest reports on wild tribes of men in India was read before the 
London Anthropological Society, in 1865, by Dr. Shortt Zillah, a physician in 
Chingleput. One of the most remarkable of them are the so-called Leaf-wearers, 
who inhabit some districts of Orissa. They do not grow higher than 4 or 5 feet ; 
and the women clothe themselves only with boughs, which they fasten round the 
waist with strings. They are regarded as the dregs of the province, of which 
they inhabit the remotest and wildest parts. They live partly on boiled rice, 
partly on wild fruits, roots, &c, have no priests, no education, no worship, &c, 
but, on the other hand, they have some superstitious customs. Their only im- 
plements are the bow and arrow and an axe for felling timber. 

The American contine?it furnishes an equal abundance of information relative 
to the wild or primitive condition of our race. The Indians of Ucayale, writes 
Castelnau, (Travels in Peru), appear scarcely to belong to our human kind. 
Their brown color, their big, almost spherical belly, their meagre arms and legs 
and the strange shape of their (artificially deformed) head make them appear like 



APPENDIX. 317 

beings of quite another sort. The Cahibes, in South America, just like the al- 
ready described Australian blacks (who, according to the experienced traveller 
Moritz Wagner, without huts, traffic, or clothes, live on roots, fruits, snails, and, 
in case of need, on their own children, and, on account of their unbounded stu- 
pidity, cannot even be used as slaves), are obstinate cannidals, who even devour 
their own children and the aged. The Digger or Pau-Eutaw-Indians are depicted, 
by the author of li A Ride across the great America7i Desert and the Rocky 
Mountains, as "the most degraded and wretched beings that inhabit the North- 
American continent ; their food is horrible ; the Chinese roasted dogs aud rats 
are epicurean dishes in comparison. Some of them brought with them lizards to 
the camp and ate them raw with no other preparation than pulling out the tails. 
Their hair is long and almost as coarse as a'mu'e's mane. Their face is void of 
all mental expression ; and, excepting the eye, which is remarkably fierce, the 
features are nowise noteworthy. The traveller can only discover a striking re- 
semblance between them and wild beasts, both as regards their manners and their 
exterior. I have often observed how in walking they turn the head quickly from 
left to right, exactly as the prairie-wolf does. In their voracity they have more 
resemblance to an anaconda than a human being. I have been told, by those in- 
timately acquainted with their manners, that five or six of these Indians will seat 
themselves round a dead horse and eat till nothing is left but the bones. 

"We gave them the remnant of our dried beef, which was putrid and mouldy. 
This they ate greedily ; and when they saw that nothing more was to be had, 
they expressed their satisfaction by rubbing their bellies and grunting in a way 
that would have well suited a herd of swine." 

" The Indians," says the author of the account of a journey from New- York to 
California, in Diezmarm's Aus der Fremde, "are children. Their arts, wars, 
transactions, &c, belong to the lowest condition of human society. A company 
of boys from ten to fifteen years old is quite as well able to govern itself as an 
Indian tribe ; and the primitive inhabitants of America will within fifty years have 
vanished from the soil of their fathers. . . . The Indian depicted by Cooper 
and Longfellow is only visible to the eye of the poet ; to the prosaic observer the 
Indian appears a creature which has altogether failed to reach the dignity of 
human nature, a slave of appetite and sloth," &c. 

The Brazilian man of the woods, or Botokudo, is according to Dr. Robert Ave- 
Lallemant (Journey through North Brazil, 1859), quite naked and without the 
slightest sentiment of modesty. He has thin thighs and calves, long, slender 
hands, a large trunk, big belly and a depressed, narrow and bony forehead. He 
is not interested by any thing uncommon ; his eyes are without lustre and soul ; 
his look is staring, dull and without intelligence. In the presence of an European 
he is shy, embarrassed, and slips aside. He wears wooden plugs in his lips and 
ear-lobes, is considerably smaller than the European, and appears, on close inter- 
course, like a good-natured ape. When Lallemant endeavored to make him 
understand anything by signs, he imitated every action, just as apes do. " I was 
convinced," he says, "with deep sadness, that they were two-handed apes." 
They are also cannibals and quite incapable of seeing the abominableness of the 
practice. Nothing excites their curiosity or attention. They speak little to one 
another, but rather mutually grunt and snuffle. They are quite destitute of moral 
notions. To them a man is either a friend and then good, or an enemy and then 



318 APPENDIX. 

bad. In eating they make a smacking; noise, like swine. — In the Revue des deux 
Mondes, 1863, Adolphe d'Assier says of the Brazilian Botokudo that he is en- 
tirely destitute of moral ideas. Immorality is normal, morality sporadic or ex- 
ceptional ; an honest man is called " not a thief," — truth, " not a lie." 

On the 19th September, 1868, at the fourth session of the International Con- 
gress for Archaeology and History in Bonn (Section for Primeval History), Otto 
Schmitz gave a very full report on the wild Apaches Indians, whose country lies 
between the Rio Grande del Norte and the Rio Colorado, among whom he had 
been compelled to live several months, and who exhibit the utmost degree of brutal 
barbarism. They go quite naked, their leather-like skin seeming to compensate 
for the want of clothing ; sleep in hollows in the ground, feed on fruits, berries, 
vermin and stolen horses or asses, have no other implements than bow and spear, 
and go singly or in small troops without a chief ; only for marauding expeditions 
on a larger scale than usual do they unite under chitftains. They know no mar- 
riage, but only a longer or shorter cohabitation of the sexes, the children being 
quickly lost in the horde, have no notion of their age or of counting years, they 
are unacquainted with physicians, do not wash their children, but powder them 
with sand, leave their sick and dead on the road, and have scarcely any idea of 
wailing for the dead. " They have no idea that the dead live on, that there may 
be something better elsewhere than here, or a conception of the great Spirit, such 
as is found among many Indians. The only festival they observe is that of the 
full moon." Beasts are not slaughtered, but torn asunder. In a marauding ex- 
pedition the weak or the crippled are left behind to starve, or are slain. The 
Apache speaks little, and rather in gestures than in sounds, has no notion of 
greeting, either at meeting or parting, speaks more in broken sentences than in 
coherent words ; guttural sounds so predominate that loud discourse is almost 
impossible. The important auxiliary verb " to be" does not exist. Their nu- 
meral system is decimal, like that of most savage peoples. 

The inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, at the southern extremity of America, are, 
according to the Duke of Argyll {Primeval Man, 1869, p. 167), perhaps inferior 
to all other races of men. They are habitual cannibals ; they will sooner kill and 
eat their old women than their dogs ; go perfectly naked, have an ugly counte- 
nance bedaubed with paint, a dirty, greasy skin, tangled hair, unharmonious 
voices and violent manners. " When we see such men," says Darwin (Voyage of 
the Beagle), " we can hardly persuade ourselves that they are creatures like our- 
selves and inhabitants of the same world." — 

If we repair from the extreme south to the extreme north of our globe, we find 
also here a similar spectacle among the inhabitants of the Arctic Ocean, the Es- 
kimos. "The Eskimo," says John Ross (Narrative of a Second Voyage, &c, 
1835, p. 448), " is a beast of prey, without any other pleasure than that of eating; 
without any principle or rational emotion, he devours as long as he can, and as 
much as he can get, like the vulture or the tiger. . . . He eats only to sleep, 
and sleeps only as soon as possible to eat again." As to their mental capabilities, 
they have, according to Whitebourne, no knowledge of God, and live without 
any form of civil government. On this point John Ross says : " I could not be 
clear whether they understood any thing of what I endeavored to make intelli- 
gible to them by explaining the simplest things in the simplest manner. Should 
I have accomplished more, if I had understood their language better ? I have 



APPENDIX. 



319 



very much reason to doubt it. That they must have had a certain sort of moral 
law written on the heart I could not doubt, for their behavior proved it ; but be- 
yond this all my searches were vain, and no effort led to anything worth mention. 
Relative to their opinions on the essentials of that from which the presence of a 
sort of religion might have been concluded, I was at last compelled to give up 
the attempt in despair." (Loc. cit., p. 548). 

This hasty sketch of the natural and moral history of savage peoples may suf- 
fice in this place, although by similar or analogous delineations by transatlantic 
travellers from the most diverse regions of the inhabited earth it might have been 
much further extended. The rude savage or primitive man is, even as to his 
whole essence, so very different from the civilized and cultivated man, who is ac- 
customed to fixed civil and social arrangements and educated by the culture of 
thousands of years, that it is impossible to place the two on one level and from 
them, after the manner of the idealistic philosophers, construct an ideal universal 
" essence of man." It is only education, improvement, experience, the inherit- 
ance of acquired capabilities and the innumerable aids and incitements of culture 
that make the civilized man what he is now and what he must be, and probably 
will in process of time continually still more transform him and remove him still 
further from his original brutish condition. It is true that some have endeavored 
to diminish the force of all those observations of savage peoples, which we have 
urged, by laboring to represent them as degenerate, fallen from a previous better 
condition of culture, and hence abnormally departing from the idea of humanity. 
But, apart from isolated cases with which that opinion agrees, there are no facts 
to confirm such a view, or even to make it appear probable. It is a universal law 
of nature that degeneration leads to premature extinction ; but some of these 
tribes have already existed from time immemorial, and many of them enjoy a 
fecundity too great to be reconcilable with the fact of degeneration. 

" The immediate impression," says Prof. Schaaff hausen {Ueber den Zustand 
der wilden Volker, p. 164), " made by all the phenomena of savage peoples, 
their intimate connection with the nature of the country they inhabit, the absence 
of any reminiscence of any better condition, the bodily health and physical 
strength in which, when out of contact with the influences of civilization, they 
are preserved, the peculiarities of their organization (which betray a lower stage 
of development), finally the absence of such signs of decay as we perceive in cer- 
tain cases — all this leads us to think that most of the savage tribes have never 
been in possession of a higher culture. This view is also favored by the circum- 
stance that many of the most polished nations of the present day were in ancient 
times at a like stage of barbarism." 

(32) Besides those contained in Appendix 31, numerous examples of savage na- 
tions who are destitute of this belief and even have no words in their languages 
to express the ideas God, religion, Justice, sin, &c, may be gleaned from the 
Author's Kraft und Stoff, ii edition, p. 201 et seqq. " Three large sections 
of the earth's surface," says G. Pouchet, "which are still inhabited by savages, 
appear to have remained till now exempt from religious notions : they are the 
interior of Africa, Australia, and the polar regions — consequently the three most 
difficult to explore, and hence the least known portions of the world. Latham 
says that the Australians have not yet gone so far as to form by themselves even 



320 APPENDIX. 

the rudest elements of a religion, and that their minds seem to be actually too 
inert for superstition. A missionary says of them: "What can be undertaken 
with a people whose language knows no expressions for ' righteousrtess,' ' sin,' and 
the like, and to whose minds the ideas which those words are intended to express 
are utterly unexpla'nable ? " Of the Latukas (region of the Nile sources) Sir S. W. 
Baker states (The Albert Nyanza, 1867), that the idea of a Deity does not exist 
among them, and they have no sort of religion, not even the rudest fetish-worship. 

The belief in a God is not any thing original or innate, but something made or 
grown, and first results from a certain amount of reflection by the uneducated 
human mind on the surrounding natural phenomena, which, from defective 
knowledge of the laws of nature and of their intimate connection, he cannot ex- 
plain in a natural way, and hence refers them to an invisible, mysterious cause ; 
while the wholly uncultivated savage does not feel the need of even such a super- 
ficial method of explanation. Science is a continued struggle with this notion ; 
and with every step she makes forwards she drives back the belief in supernatural 
forces, or the need of such a belief, into more remote and untenable positions. 
Hence every science, and especially every philosophy, that seeks reality instead 
of appearance, truth instead of pretence, must necessarily be atheistic ; otherwise 
it blocks up against itself the path to its end — the truth. As soon, then, as in a 
philosophic book the word "God "occurs, except in criticism or reference, one 
may confidently lay it aside ; in it will be found nothing capable of promoting 
the real progress of knowledge. In properly scientific works the word wiil be 
seldom met with ; for in scientific matters the word " God " is only another ex- 
pression for our ignorance ; in like manner as on more special occasions the 
words "vital force," " instinct," "soul," &c. 

That, moreover, for religion itself the idea of a Deity is not indispensable, is 
proved by the well-known and oft-cited example of the most wide-spread religious 
system in the world, Buddhism. Barthelemy St.-Hilaire, the author of the ex- 
cellent work Buddha and his Religion, (1862), says : — " There is not found even 
the least trace of the belief in a Deity in the whole of Buddhism ; and the asser- 
tion that it assumes the absorption of the human soul in the divine or the soul of 
the universe is an altogether arbitrary supposition, which in Buddha's notion is 
not even possible. In order to believe that man can lose himself by union with 
God, one must first believe in God himself. But one can scarcely even assert that 
Buddha did ?iot believe in him. He ignores God so completely that he does not 
once endeavor to deny him. He neither mentions him to explain the origin and 
the earlier life of man, nor to advance a conjecture concerning his future destiny. 
Buddhism knows God in no wise," &c. 

The same writer adds to this statement the following words (certainly very 
worthy of being laid to heart) : — " The human mind has hitherto been observed 
scarcely anywhere else than among the races to which we ourselves- belong. 
These races doubtless deserve a very large place in our studies ; but although they 
are the most important, they are not the only ones. Must not the others also be 
taken into consideration, however inferior we may deem them ? If they do not 
fit into the hastily constructed frame, must we distort them in order to be able to 
adapt them to our too contracted theories ? oris it not better to acknowledge that 
the old systems are defective, and that they cannot comprehend the whole of that 
which they pretend to explain ? " 



APPENDIX. 321 

(33) That the art of numeration, and the science of mathematics erected there- 
on, is not any thing innate in the human mind, but is only gradually developed 
by education and cultivation, is proved by the example of the savage tribes of 
Australia and Brazil who have not carried their numeral system beyond three or 
four, and can only indicate higher numbers by gestures. Oldfield even describes 
a tribe who count no further than the number two and designate all beyond by 
the word bool-tka, which signifies "many." A native of this tribe, wishing to 
give the narrator an idea of the number of men killed in a battle, tried at first by 
mentioning the names of those who had fallen, and at the mention of each name 
he stretched out a finger ; but after several vain attempts of this sort, he ended 
by raising one hand three times in succession, by which he wished it to be under- 
stood that the number amounted to fifteen. 

Generally, all numeration began with the fingers or toes ; and among most 
savage tribes it has remained at that stage to the present time. Hence, five, ten 
and twenty everywhere form the fundamental numbers ; and indeed the verbal 
signs for these numbers agree with the names of those parts of the body. Among 
many savage tribes of Africa, America, &c, for example, the number five is 
called "a whole hand," the number ten "two hands," twenty " a whole man." 
The number six is denoted by the expression " one of the other hand," &c. ; the 
number eleven is called " one of the foot," and so on. Twenty-one is called " one 
of the hand of another Indian," &c. In some instances words expressing number 
are taken from the properties of the individual fingers ; in others the names of 
other natural objects which are present once or oftener, serve as numeral designa- 
tions. Thus the ancient Indians said earth or moon for one, eye or arm or wing 
for two ; for three Rama, or fire, or property, because they accepted three Ramas, 
three kinds of fire, and three properties ; for four they said age or Veda, because 
they accepted four ages and four Vedas, and so on. For four the Abipoins in 
America say " ostrich-foot," because it has four toes. The custom of tying up 
pine-cones in parcels of four has in some of the South-Sea Islands led to the num- 
ber four being denoted by the word " pono," which signifies a packet, while for 
ten and a hundred the words for bundle and great packet are used. 

Moreover, counting by 5, 10 or 20, or the number of the fingers and toes, is so 
general that departures from it must be regarded only as exceptions : and it lies 
at bottom of the numeral systems of the most advanced nations. 

Some observations seem to prove that the beasts also are able to count. A 
mouse, from whom nine young ones had been taken, came nine times, to fetch 
them back one by one, and then no more, although she had not been able to look 
into the cap in which they were imprisoned. The magpie can count to four, but 
no further. If four hunters hide themselves before her eyes, and three of them 
go away, she knows that one is still there, and is on her guard ; but if, on the 
contrary, there are five of them, and four go away, she thinks that all are gone, 
and becomes careless. 

(34) Animals also use tools. Apes push stones between the open valves of the 
mussel-shell to prevent their closing, and open the shells of oysters by striking 
them with stones. Still better known is the fact that apes defend themselves 
with sticks or cudgels, and hurl down branches or heavy fruits from the trees 
upon their pursuers. And Forbes observes (Eleven Years in Ceylon) that wild 



322 APPENDIX. 

elephants break off boughs from the trees to use them for keeping off the flies. 
It is well known that, when tamed or under training, beasts learn to use all 
manner of tools with great dexterity. On the other hand, it is related of many 
wild tribes that they have scarcely any idea of using tools. Thus the Mincopies 
(the black inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, in the Bay of Bengal), according 
to a report made by travellers to the Paris Anthropological Society, possess neither 
dwellings nor hatchets or the like. They know not the use of fire, leave their 
dead unburied, have no regulation or custom concerning marriage, and appear in 
respect to their social instincts to be lower than the beasts. Of them, of whom 
Colebroke said that their form and features expressed the extreme of wretched- 
ness and savagery, and more recent accounts mention incredible traits of animal 
barbarism, R. Owen has lately (as Schaaffhausen says in a communication to the 
Niederrheitiische Gesellschaft fur Natut - und Heilkunde, June 8, 1864) been able 
to prove that in some characteristics of their bodily structure, especially of their 
bony system, they exhibit a lower grade of organization — which, in connection 
with their mental rudeness, must appear specially worthy of notice. 

(35) That many wild tribes of Africa, America, Australia and Asia, as well as 
the islands of Oceania, have no idea of the use of clothing and go perfectly naked, 
is well known and is sufficiently proved by the testimonies already adduced. In- 
deed, when clothing is offered to them, they scorn it. In 1858 the American fri- 
gate "Niagara" rescued 455 Africans from the slave-ship " Elcho," in order to 
carry them back to their native country. Dr. Rainey, who accompanied them, 
writes of these savages : — " They are altogether very dirty and refuse to wear any 
clothes. They cannot be prevailed upon to comply with even those measures of 
cleanliness which are absolutely indispensable for the preservation of health. 
The clothes which were given them in Charleston they immediately rent to pieces. 
It is seldom that one cares for another ; the utmost they will do is to assist each 
other if their back itches. Even for their sick and dying they have not the least 
concern. If one of them has died, they let the corpse lie amongst them for 
hours, as if nothing had happened. But scarcely has the last sign of life disap- 
peared ere they take possession without ceremony, of his coverlet, his spoon, and 
whatever else he may have used. They are the most imbecile, brutish, pitiable 
creatures I ever came across." (See Allgem. Zeitung, 1858, No. 313.) Similarly 
Wilhelm Bischoff lAusland, i860, No. 3) states, concerning his impressions in 
the American slave-States : — "The genuine woolly-head, especially as he is not 
seldom found among the plantation-negroes, makes upon the European, who is 
not accustomed to such a sight, an extremely disagreeable impression, which is 
aggravated by their character being, as a rule, in perfect correspondence with 
their ugly exterior. It would be difficult in Europe, especially in Germany, to 
find a stock that could, even remotely, be compared with this race. Except 
speech and form, these negroes have in them scarcely one mark of humanity ; all 
their movements, their entire deportment, remind one rather of the brute; and 
they seem totally incapable of any higher culture," &c. "Almost all are thieves 
and liars ; hence the evidence of a black has no validity in a court of justice. It 
is useless trouble to make them understand the wrong of this, because they are 
altogether ignorant of the word shame" &c. 

Of the Nuehr negroes in Africa, Sir S. W. Baker (/. c.) says : " They carry the 



APPENDIX. 323 

nature of savages pretty well to the highest pitch. The men go as naked as they 
were born ; their bodies are rubbed in with ashes, and their hair dyed red with a 
wash of ashes and cow's urine. These fellows are the veriest devils I ever saw ; 
there is no other expression for them. Even the unmarried women are quite 
naked ; the married wear a fringe of grass round their loins." The same author 
gives a similar account of the negroes of Kytschland, of the Latukas in the region 
of the Nile-sources, &c. 

(36) The speech of the Fans of West Africa is, Du Chaillu says, a collection of 
guttural tones which no one can understand ; and still worse and harsher is the 
speech of the Oschebas. De la Gironniere, who staid some days among the 
Ajetas on the Philippine island of Luzon, says that the people appeared to him 
like a large family of apes, and that the sounds they uttered resembled the short 
shriek of those ani?nals, and their movements also were the same. The Brazilian 
Botokudo has, according to Adolphe d'Assier (/. c.) an extremely imperfeet lan- 
guage, indicating by the same word a number of tolerably diverse objects. Thus 
the word tschohn signifies at the same time tree, beam, twig, chip ; the word po : 
foot, hand, finger, toe, nail, heel, &c. The Australian language is very poor, 
possessing only a few hundred words, and among them not one to express a gen- 
eral idea. Thus they have denominations for individual trees, but no word for 
the notion "tree." The same is true of the languages of many savage peoples, 
which, as a rule, are quite destitute of expressions for general notions of proper- 
ties which at the same time belong to different bodies, as "color," "tone," 
"tree," &c. They have a special word for each kind of color, for each kind of 
tree, but no general designation. The language of the savages of Borneo and 
Sumatra is said to be rather a sort of brutish cackle or croak than a real human 
mode of expression. The speech of the Hottentots and Bushmen, too, is distin- 
guished by its poverty in words. Generally, savages are accustomed to talk more 
by gestures and looks than by actual tones. The lower in the scale a people or a 
man is, the poorer are they in words, while wealth of words is a special charac- 
teristic of superior minds ; for word is nothing else but the incarnation of thought. 
The Veddahs in Ceylon, Sir Emerson Tennent tells us, mutually make themselves 
understood almost entirely by signs, grimaces and guttural sounds, which have 
little resemblance to definite words or language in general. 

That language, however, is not exclusively the property of man is shown by 
the circumstance that brutes also possess the faculty of mutual converse and com- 
munication in a very high degree. The brutes understand each other, they under- 
stand us and make themselves understood by us, all which cannot be done without 
a sort of language. It is very well known that dogs know how to inform their 
masters, in relation to very definite matters, by gestures, looks, play of the eyes, 
barking, whining, &c. ; and it is as well known that dogs understand exactly what 
is said of them, or when orders are given to them. Every animal has its peculiar 
language and a number of determined sounds to express its wishes, wants, sensa- 
tions, &c. Thus Dupont has, by close observation, found that pigeons and 
fowls have twelve different tones, dogs have fifteen, cats fourteen, horned cattle 
twenty-two, &c. — an estimate which is probably much too low. At first all the 
tones were "guttural" or throat-tones, as is still the case with brutes and sav- 
ages; later the "labial sounds" were added. Besides, as Pouchet justly remarks, 



324 APPENDIX. 

language, which is only a simple means of communication between two living 
beings, and as sign- and tone-language, though not as verbal language, belongs at 
the same time to man and beast, must be distinguished from speech, — which is 
exclusively the property of man, but is only possible with a certain development 
of articulate verbal language and the existence of designations for general ideas. 
There is, according to Clemence Royer, a greater difference between the most 
highly developed analytical languages, or between the language of a Shakespeare 
or Corneille, and that of a Papuan negro, than between the latter and the stam- 
mering cry of an angry ape when scolding his female or young. Also the tones 
which apes are accustomed to utter exhibit a close approximation to the lowest 
primitive forms of human speech. "Language," says H. Tuttle, "is the ex- 
pression of thought ; and even if the thoughts which the brutes unmistakably 
communicate to one another are not identical with the human, at any rate they 
are analogous. The dog calls his companions or his master by means of an al- 
together peculiar baying ; in the roaring of the lion, the snarl of the tiger, the 
song of the bird and the thousand-fold modes of sound of the insect world are 
found all the modulations of the expression of feeling and mutual intelligence, 
from the alluring call to the warning signal, from love to fury, &c, &c. Lastly, 
in the comparison of brute with human language, it must not be forgotten that 
parrots, starlings, ravens, &c, are able to utter articulate sounds, and many 
words very distinctly, and, in fact, with consciousness of their purport, even with- 
out having been expressly taught, and merely from voluntary imitation and inde- 
pendent observation. 

(37) According to the distinguished linguist A. Schleicher ( Ueber die Bedeutung 
der Sprache fur die Naturgeschichte des Menscken, 1865), language is something 
which has gradually grown, and which once was not existing. All the more 
highly organized languages have little by little arisen or been developed from 
simple language-organisms in the course of enormous periods. The languages 
of simplest construction have been gradually formed out of so-called vocal ges- 
tures and mutative sounds, such as the brutes also possess ; and language itself 
is the product of a gradual growth according to vital laws which, in their essential 
features, we are able to indicate. This growth took place in connection and 
simultaneously with the greater improvement of the brain and the vocal organs. 

Schleicher, however, in contradiction to M. Pouchet, defines language as the ex- 
pression of thought by means of words ; and he holds it to be exclusively charac- 
teristic of man, while vocal gesture belongs to the brute also. Since, according 
to him, language first made the man, our ancestors were not from the beginning 
that which we now call man ; and hence the results of linguistic science also just, 
like those of natural science, lead " decidedly to the adoption of a gradual de- 
velopment of man out of lower forms." 

J. Grimm, also, the renowned German etymologist, in his well-known pamphlet 
on the origin of language (Ueber den Ur sprung der Sprache, VI. Aufl. Ber- 
lin, 1866), calls the latter " a progressive work," " a difficult acquisition " of man 
and says expressly that it is not innate, but, in its origin as well as its progress, 
is " acquired " by us. Language, according to him, was imperfect at first and 
has gradually increased in value ; hence it cannot have emanated from God. All 
verbal roots contain sensuous representations ; and all ideas originate from the 



APPENDIX. 325 

intuitions of the senses. From the notion of breathing comes that > of living ; 
from the idea of expiring (breathing- out) that of dying ; from that of crowing, 
the idea of a cock, &c, &c. 

According to J. P. Lesley (/. c), every language has a certain number of roots 
(200-600) from which it has been developed. Now, for the origin of these roots 
or germs there are only three possibilities : — they were either communicated by 
divine revelation or the gift of a ready-made language, or resulted from the gift 
of a capacity of language to the first men, or finally, were produced by a higher, 
a human development of a faculty of expression diffused throughout the animal 
world. Now-a-days, says Lesley, the first of these possibilities can only be en- 
tertained by those who believe in Adam and Eve, and is inadmissible on account 
of the multiplicity of languages. Scientifically only the last two can now be 
spoken of, while the circumstance that all animals have a sort of language, ami 
that the human faculty of speech is greater only because the human brain is 
larger and more finely organized, speaks decidedly in favor of the last of these 
possibilities. At any rate, according to Lesley, the original development of lan- 
guage was just as gradual as that which we now observe in every child ; and the 
language of a nation grows and changes with its changing mental condition. 
We shall never fathom the languages of the so-called Stone-age ; they have long 
ago been lost and replaced by others. Language is a portion of natural science ; 
words and language live and become extinct, exactly as living beings do, and like 
them become fossil also. 

The following are dead, having completed their cycle of life : — Sanskrit, Pehlvi, 
Egyptian, Chaldee, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. 

(38) The limited nature of our physical knowledge and the change or addition 
which the things to be known undergo or receive within our physical means of 
knowledge or senses, form the last citadel within which philosophical spiritual- 
ism has retreated, after it has been victoriously driven from the field at all other 
points by philosophical materialism or realism. Sulking solitary upon deserted 
rocks, it hopes at some more favorable time to be able from this point again to 
reconquer the lost territory. But there is this in opposition to it, that it is equally 
or perhaps even less able than its opponent to give any account of what the so- 
called thing is in itself, or of what the thing is without its phenomena. Things, 
or more properly speaking, the material movements of the external world within 
our organs of sense may indeed only then receive the properties which we ascribe 
to them, — tones, colors, odors, nay, even sensations of heat, light, taste, &c, 
may only be additions of our subjective I to the objective external world, — and 
the latter, when Wc deprive it of these additions, may appear to be only an ac- 
cumulation or sum of innumerable atoms or particles of matter vibrating against 
and among each other in the most multifarious forms and relations, but never- 
theless these movements or in general things are not on this account less real or 
actual, and in the form of contemplative ideas constitute the foundation of all 
human knowledge. Locke, the celebrated founder of sensualism, knew this very 
well, for he ascribed a great part of the properties of bodies to our sensitivity and 
distinguished between what he called primary and secoiidary properties of things, 
referring to the former, extension, impermeability, form, motion or rest and num- 
ber, and to the latter color, tone, taste, odor, hardness, softness, roughness, &c. 



326 APPENDIX. 

The materialistic philosophers of antiquity also, such as Epicurus, distinguished 
between the sensorial qualities of things or the sensation of the organized animal 
body, and the things themselves, but added that beyond the things of the phenom- 
enal world nothing existed and there was nothing to seek. It is therefore a 
grievous error when, as we so often hear in the present day, this distinction is 
described as a bran-new discovery of science {especially the physiology of the 
organs of the senses), whilst even the simplest consideration without any scientific 
cultivation leads us to separate our sensation from the action causing the sensa- 
tion. And it is incomprehensible, how so acute a thinker as F. A. Lange, could 
allow himself in his well-known History of Materialism (Iserlohn, 1866) to be led 
by this circumstance and the well-known distinction by Kant of the thing itself 
from the pheno?neno?t to go directly against materialism and even in accord with 
Kant to support the maxim, that our ideas do not accotmnodate themselves to the 
objects, but the objects to our ideas. The simple consequence of this conception 
would be the absurd assumption that all that we recognize is only an illusion of 
the senses, — an assumption which must make an end not only of all philosophy 
but of all knowledge. Even the imperfection and the sufficiently demonstrated 
limitation of our sensorial perception, which does not even possess a direct organ 
of perfection for so many motions which occur in nature, and in this respect is 
perhaps exceeded by many animals, will not suffice to furnish a scientific founda- 
tion for the doctrine of Kant, which is derived from pure speculation. Kant's 
"thing itself " is a purely ideal entity, or a logical and empirical nonentity, of 
the connection of which with our conception proceeding from sensorial recognition 
no conception can possibly be formed. A "thing itself" is inconceivable for the 
very reason that all things exist only for each other, and without reciprocal rela- 
tions have no significance. But even if there were a " thing itself," it would be 
absolutely inconceivable or unrecognizable and could claim no value either for our 
action or for our thought. We know things every where all the better, the better 
we investigate their manifold relations to each other and to other things. Even 
the qualities or properties which things acquire within our organs and our ca- 
pacity of conception and which are usually designated by the philosophers as 
"appearance" in contradistinction to the "thing itself," are therefore no less 
actual and always represent perfectly definite ard equally actual conditions or 
movements of the external world. Hence, when Lange calls the world of sense 
"a product of our organization," this opinion rests upon a perfectly one-sided 
conception of the actually existing relations and upon an artificial confusion of 
the state of the case which is in itself very simple. If the senses sometimes de- 
ceive us by a false appearance, as, for example, in the movements of the celestial 
bodies, we correct the error thus produced by contemplation, that is, by the ap- 
plication of natural laws, which, again, we have ascertained only by means and 
as a consequence of sensorial impressions. The deceptivity of sensorial appear- 
ances in particular cases is therefore established by their truthfulness in general. 
The author proposes hereafter and in a more suitable place to express himself 
in more detail upon the whole of the very important matter here touched upon, 
and in the mean while recommends those philosophers by profession who still 
believe in the " Ding an sich, " and without any appearance of a reason regard it 
as the sole determinant, to set the following son? to music and to have it sung at 
their assemblies in place of the grace usual among theologians : 



APPENDIX. 327 

O Ding an sich, 
Wie lieb' ich Dich, 
Du aller Dinge Ding ! 
Nur blinder Wahn 
Sieht schief Dich an 
Und achtet Dich gering. " 

Zwar weiss ich nicht, 
Ob Dein Gesicht 
1st hiisslich oder schon? 
Und ob Du wohl, 
Fest oder hohl, 
Magst liegen oder stehn? 

Ob jung, ob alt, 
Ob warm, ob kalt, 
Ob grade oder krumm, 
Ob Du voll Zwist, 
Ob sanft Du bist, 
Ob pfiffig oder dumm? 

Doch einerlei ! 
Dir bleib' ich treu 
Und unveranderlich, 
Und thue dar, 
Dass nichts ist wahr, 
Als nur " das Ding an sich ! " 

(39) The greater development and increased perfection of the brain in the 
higher races of men and in proportion to the advance of civilization is a fact as 
well demonstrated, as the gradual improvement of the brain and its individual 
parts in the Vertebrate series. This applies especially to the anterior or frontal 
portions of the brain, whilst the posterior parts appear to have become more 
flattened with advancing civilization, so that a kind of greater erection of the 
whole brain accompanied by a widening appears to have been a chief character- 
istic of its civilizatory development. This, however, relates only to the very rough 
character of size and external form, whilst the internal improvement of structure, 
composition, formation of the different parts, &c, generally remains concealed 
from the eye of the anatomist. But it is in this, and in the more fully developed 
function of the activity of the organ that we have the main lever of its relative 
superiority and also of its continued development in the future. It is therefore 
a sign of great want of knowledge or judgment when we find in many works 
written in opposition to the theory of evolution, and especially against the conse- 
quences deduced from it by Carl Vogt with regard to the future development of 
the human race, that the following absurd objection is brought forward, namely, 
that an enormous and injurious development of the brain and skull or a morbid 
macrocephalism (big-headedness) must be the necessary consequence of that de- 
velopment in accordance with the Darwinian doctrine of evolution. Even within 
the space now furnished by the human skull, the growth of which is subjected to 
definite laws, prescribed by the type and mutual relations with the other organs 
and parts of the body, there is still so much superfluous room for the further de- 
velopment of the organ of thought in its indivividual and more delicate parts, as 



328 APPENDIX. 

may suffice for thousands of years and for a civilizatory development of the 
widest kind. Moreover, we must not forget that by means of its present form 
and constitution the organ is already capable of an evolution of its function or 
activity by use and practice, such as we know it attains only in very few men. It 
is a fact sufficiently well-known to physiologists that the structure and function 
of an organ do not always stand in an equal ratio to each other, but often in a 
very unequal ratio, so that the hand, for example, which in the animals most 
nearly allied to man serves almost entirely as a grasping or motory organ, al- 
though approaching very near to that of man, and which probably served only 
for the simplest purposes in primeval man, is capable in the more highly de- 
veloped men of an almost marvellous perfection and adroitness. In the same 
way the brain of man also by practice and cultivation becomes capable of per- 
formances which appear simply incomprehensible to the simple and uninstructed 
understanding. If we add to this that a brain thus developed and trained under 
otherwise favorable circumstances transfers its acquired improvements in accord- 
ance with the law of inheritance to its descendants, we shall easily see, how, by 
this means, a sufficient material foundation is furnished for an unlimited intel- 
lectual progress, without its being necessary for the organ of thought itself to be- 
come inflated to a bulk inconsistent with the laws of structure in general. Finally, 
it must not be forgotten that the brain of the cultivated man nowadays acquires 
with comparatively less effort and in a very short time a whole series of ideas 
conceptions and knowledge, on the creation or establishment of which the intel- 
lectual powers of many generations of men before us have exhausted themselves. 
The present treasure of civilization possessed by man, like his material posses- 
sions, is the result of the life and activity of the whole human race during the 
hundreds and thousands of years that have passed away ! The individual suc- 
ceeding at once to the whole of this valuable inheritance and taking his stand 
upon it works on further, and this it is above all that, together with his more 
perfect organization, confers upon man his immense superiority over the animal. 
Corporeally man is in fact nothing but an ennobled and more perfectly organized 
ape ; but intellectually he is, in comparison to animals, a demi-god, that is, he 
has become so by the gradual evolution of his powers ! 

(40) The principle of the division of labor, as Professor E Haeckel has shown in 
an admirable discourse on that subject, (Berlin, 1S69), is diffused throughout the 
whole organic world, and exerts itself not only in the arrangement of the individ- 
ual organism but also in the social and confederate combinations of the individual 
species of animals. Life, according to Haeckel, is nothing but the mechanical 
total result of the performances of the different organs, separated by the division 
of labor ; and these organs on their part have been developed into their various 
forms from simpler and very simple forms, — the so-called primitive and funda- 
mental organs, — in consequence of a progressive division of labor. The simplest 
or primitive form of organic life is, as is well-known, the cell, which, as the small- 
est organic individual or as the elementary organism, constitutes all organs 
whether simple or complicated. " The apparent vital unity of every multicellular 
organism, like the political unity of every human state, is the combined result of 
the union and division of labor of these little citizens. - ' Every cell in the body of 
the animal or plant has thus up to a certain degree an independent life. Those 
cells which are the most favored or the most highly endowed undertake the high- 



APPENDIX. 329 

est function of the animal body, that of self-consciousness or of sensation, thought 
and will. 

The division of labor of the organism itself is a result of the struggle for existence 
in the course of many, many millions of years under the pressure of the external 
conditions of life, and guided by the principles of variability and inheritance. 

(41) Although it must be regarded as a very just principle that "Whoever does 
not work, shall not eat," nevertheless daily experience teaches that a great many 
do eat, who do not work, and never have worked ; and from this it follows as an 
inevitable consequence, that those who do work must do so not only for them- 
selves but also for the nourishment of a whole army of idlers. And this makes it 
appear the more unjust that those portions of the happiness of life which fall to 
the lot of the individual, are usually smaller in proportion as the exertion of his 
forces for the maintenance of his own existence and that of others is great, whilst 
the best and largest shares are in general carried off by those who have made 
very slight, if any, efforcs to deserve them. It must not be objected to this that 
these people live upon the exertions or services of their ancestors, because the 
most essential necessaries of life are exactly those which cannot be created be- 
forehand, and when they are consumed, must necessarily have been produced by 
the exertions of contemporaries. 

What applies to bodily work, applies also, and almost in a higher degree, to 
intellectual labor, which usually becomes less remunerative and more proletarian, 
the more it is directed towards the highest and most truly ideal problems of hu- 
manity. Philosophers and poets are born proletaires, except when the luck of 
property has smiled upon them in their cradle, and even in business the heaviest 
and most wearing intellectual labor is generally performed by those who are 
worst paid for it. It is a very poor consolation, and moreover untrue, to say, 
that want drives great intellects to the production of extraordinary works, and 
that wealth and comfort keep them from it. Whoever is kept back from intel- 
lectual creation by wealth or comfort, is really destitute of the characters of 
prominent and creative spirits, for whom the outpouring of their inward thoughts 
into the bosom of mankind is as much a necessity as eating, drinking and sleep- 
ing. On the other hand, want and privation make people discontented, inatten- 
tive and slow of thought, and rob those who are subjected to them of those external 
and internal incitements which are so absolutely necessary for the development 
even of the greatest intellect. The leisure which is indispensable to the poet, the 
philosopher, &c, is wanting to the man who is pressed by want and the cares of 
life, and the scattering of his powers which is caused thereby makes him attain 
that which forms and must form a mainspring to the progress of the creative 
spirit, — namely, success, — too late, if at all. Of course so long as the principles 
which now govern society with regard to the struggle for existence prevail, it is 
useless to think of improving these conditions, as only such intellectual work as 
furnishes or promises to furnish a direct material benefit, is remunerated. What 
an infinitely injurious influence upon the qualitity of our modern literature this 
circumstance has exerted is too well-known to render any further reference to it 
necessary. Professorial detail-work or hasty workshop-work speculating upon 
the pocket of the reader, with abject subjection to the temporarily prevailing 
spirit or taste of the reader, is the predominant character of our literature, whilst 



33° APPENDIX. 

manly rectitude and philosophical conviction are seen to encounter everywhere a 
mountain of vulgarity, ignorance and calumny. 

(42) The present foundations of society according to Radenhausen {/sis, Band 
IV.) are mistrust, mutual plunder and egotism ; it is a war of every one against 
every one, in which it is not philanthropy, but only an insatiable striving after 
gain that forms the mainspring. F. A. Lange (jf. S. Mitt's Ansichten ilber die 
sociale Frage, &c, Duisburg, 1S66), who like us regards the struggle for existence 
as the essential spring of social movement, also calls egotism the mainspring of 
our society. In opposition to this, according to Lange, the principles of justice 
and fraternity which have hitherto played only a secondary part in the state and 
in society, must be made the principal thing. In theory we possess a far higher 
ideal of true humanity than that which actually exists. Morals must be intro- 
duced into national economy, and by this means that hateful contradiction be- 
tween theory and practice which moves our existing society to its misfortune 
must be got rid of. Morality itself must, however, as even Adam Smith recom- 
mended, be founded upon sympathy ; it is the regard of the individual for the 
whole that settles morality. 

In the first edition of his work Force and Matter (pp. 256-57), the author wrote 
the following passage (afterwards omitted) on the present state of our society : — 
"And finally let us once more look a little more closely into human society and 
enquire whether, or not it acts upon moral impulses. Is it not in fact a.bellut)i 
omnium contra omnes ? A universal race in which every one strives to outrun 
or even to destroy every body else ? Could we not almost represent it as Bur- 
meister does the Brazilians : ' Every one does what he thinks he may do without 
punishment ; cheats, takes advantage of, deceives and makes use of the others as 
well as he can, with the conviction that no one would treat him any better. In 
general they regard any one who does not take this course as too stupid and silly 
to be able to follow it,' &c." Every one does what agrees with his nature and 
follows the impulses communicated to him either by this or by the external condi- 
tions of life ; he does what appears to him to be advantageous and suitable for 
himself and for the attainment of his objects, without troubling himself about 
moral principles which have not become positive. "All men are practical athe- 
ists" (Feuerbach). A man who cares more for others than for himself is usually, 
as Cotta says, called a " good silly fellow." 

(43) M. Busch ( Wanderungen zwischen Hudson und Mississippi, pp. 129 et 
seq. , Stuttg., 1854,) describes the Shaker town of Watervliet in America, which 
had adopted the principles of community of all property and non-compulsory 
labor (work at pleasure). The colon}' was in a state of the highest prosperity. 
Pohl, a Scotchman, founded, also in America, a colony in which all constraint 
was to be done away with, and every one was to work only according to his in- 
clination and powers. The idea of this was given to Pohl by his own factory in 
Scotland, in which he brought up poor children. The colony, which had also 
adopted the principle of community of women, proved a failure. The most cele- 
brated of the many societies arranged in accordance with socialistic principles is 
the great Phalanstere of New Jersey in America, which only broke up after thir- 
teen years of a flourishing existence. Active philanthropy served this society as a 



APPENDIX. 331 

guiding principle. The land belonged to all in common ; all also dwelt and ate 
together. Every one worked at what he pleased and as much as he liked ; his 
work was estimated and put to his credit as a certain sum. Every week a balanc- 
ing of accounts took place, when the liabilities and assets of each individual were 
settled according to his work and the amount due by him to the society for his 
maintenance. There was no religion or church, but good schools. The women 
had exactly the same rights as the men, even to the right of voting ; and a select 
committee governed and decided upon the reception of new members, who had 
to submit to a year of trial. The circumstance that many availed themselves of 
the Phalanstere and its cheap mode of life only in order to save up a capital for 
themselves, together with the other circumstance that the capitalists not belonging 
to the Society who had lent the money for the purchase of the land called it in for 
the purpose of getting possession of the well-situated and beautifully cultivated 
ground in order to sell it at a high price, caused the overthrow of the undertaking. 

Even in the prosaic land of China communism has taken root. For there has 
existed in that country since the beginning of the present century a secret society 
called Thiantihoei (or the union of Heaven and earth), which has extended itself 
from Canton to Malacca, Java and the Indian Archipelago, was discovered in the 
year 1824, and made itself remarkable by a rising in Malacca in the year 1836. 
The adherents of this sect desire to overcome the terrible contrast between poverty 
and riches, and start from the principle that all men have an equal right to the 
possession of the earth and of their properties. They have nothing but precepts 
of brotherly love and practical benovolence, and strive after the liberation of 
mankind from misery and oppression. (See Milne, Transact, of the Asiatic 
Soc, 1827, Vol. I. and: Thian-t hi-hoih : Geschichte der Brilderscha/t des Him- 
mels und der Erde, der communistischen Propaganda China's. Berlin, 1852.) 

That community of goods was a recognized principle, carried out in a greater 
or less degree by many religious sects of ancient and modern times, is a matter 
of history. I shall refer only to the Jewish sect of the Essenes, to the first 
Christian communities, the Albigenses, Waldenses, Bohemian brothers, Herrn- 
huter, &c. 

(44) Radenhausen in his Isis (Vol. IV. pp. 445 et secq.) admirably expounds 
the economical and other advantages of a community of goods. Distrust, the 
thirst for unfair gain, plunder, selfishness, &c, which at present form the founda- 
tions of intercourse, would be got rid of ; and in the same proportion culture, 
conscientiousness, trust, moral worth, &c , would increase. "Whilst at present 
very many, and precisely those who are in an influential position, seek out of 
selfishness, to obstruct culture — the community, on the contrary, would seek to 
foster it for its own benefit, in order that each individual might be the more 
profitable to the whole." The striving after enjoyment would be ennobled ; the 
maintenance of existence would be much facilitated, as communities can always 
exist much more cheaply than individuals ; work, when carried on in common, 
would become easier, more agreeable, more healthy and more profitable ; the 
money-slavery of small manufactories would cease ; age and sickness would affect 
the individual with respect to his material existence no more than temporary 
want of work ; the knowledge and skill of individuals would not be lost at their 
death, but would benefit the community and their successors ; the love of work 



332 APPENEIX. 

itself, which would no longer be mere hired work but would be for the service of 
all in common, would increase extraordinarily, &c, &c. 

Even the transition from individual life to community would not be so rugged 
as it would appear, since our present life is already interwoven much more than 
is usually supposed with communism. The direct and indirect savings in govern- 
mental arrangements which are now so costly, and in the many devices for the 
security and maintenance of private property, would be incalculably great ; whilst 
the numerous losses produced by the whole army of evil inclinations, such as 
avarice, hatred, envy, revenge, calumny, hard-heartedness, &c, by which man- 
kind is more severely punished than by a plague, would cease. The worth of 
man, hitherto almost disregarded or despised, would come into its right estima- 
tion, and a free son of man would no longer, as heretofore, be less estimated, as 
regards his worth, than a sucking pig or a lamb or the child of a slave, &c, &c. 

(45) That the proprietary classes should fear and detest the social revolution 
from personal and class interests is intelligible and excusable, although the no- 
tions which are usually formed of such revolutions and their consequences are 
generally much more dreadful than the things themselves. On the other hand, 
it is incomprehensible and inexcusable that these same classes should be just as 
shy and recusant as towards the social revolution itself, towards all proposals in- 
tended to check social evils in a peaceable manner and to lead, by gradual reform, 
to a better state of things. The more we refuse to see and acknowledge the so- 
cial evils, the more strongly will these spring up in silence, and the less possible 
will it be in the end to escape from a solution of them by force. Therefore in- 
stead of pursuing with hatred and calumny those who drag the mischief to light 
and propose means for its cure, they should be greeted with thanks and listened 
to quietly and intelligently. Most certainly our wealthy burgher-class or the so- 
called Bourgeoisie, in which, at present, the most political influence is concen- 
trated, are destitute of the most necessary qualification for this purpose, namely, 
cultivation. Having sprung from the lower state of society and gradually at- 
tained to riches and influence by the unexampled progress of industry, trade and 
commerce, generally to their own astonishment, they know nothing higher than 
the assertion of this position and material comfort, and despise everything else as 
unpractical enthusiasm and ideology. The words " Money," " Credit," " Parlia- 
ment," "Ministerial Responsibility," &c, exhaust the whole treasury of their 
social and political ideas, — the highest flight they can take is to the requirement 
of a " free course for every one," which they regard as the Non plus ultra of 
liberalism, or to the removal of all those medieval obstacles which still stand in 
the way of free labor. But they forget that the free course alone, on which the 
best places are already occupied, and on which those who go on foot can often 
scarcely find room among the crushing wheels of those who travel in carriages, 
will by no means do, and that we must not talk about freedom of labor, so long 
as this is subservient to private capital or private possessions. In point of fact it 
is still exactly as it was formerly, when the noble made his serfs work for him ; 
only the parts have been changed, and the moral pressure which Capital and 
possessions nowadays exert upon the laborer, is often harder than the old physi- 
cal compulsion. That this cannot remain so permanently is clear, and it will 
depend entirely upon the intelligence or want of intelligence of our present Bour- 



APPENDIX. 333 

geoisie, or independent middle class, with regard to social questions, whether we 
are now advancing towards a social revolution, with all its terrible and incal- 
culable consequences, or towards a peaceful and gradual reform. 

(46) As a matter of course there can be no question here of a formal expropria- 
tion or expulsion of the owners of the soil for the benefit of the state, but only of 
a redemption of the land, that is to say, a repurchase of it for moderate sums to 
be settled by estimate. In the case of small properties or pieces of ground, es- 
pecially where these form the sole possession of a man or a family, this estimate 
must come very near their real value ; whilst larger properties, whole manors and 
the like must be subject to a certain reduction in the estimate. It is well known 
that very many and perhaps the most important of the titles to the private possess- 
ion of the soil which was originally in general a common possession, by no means 
originated in honest acquisition, but from the times of conquest, feudalism and 
forcible dominion, and for this reason alone we might have the less hesitation 
about their retransfer into the possession of the community. Nevertheless as, 
after the lapse of so long a time investigations of the justice of the titles of acqui- 
sition can no longer be instituted, and as we cannot make the descendants answer- 
able for the sins of their forefathers, no one should be injured in his existing 
rights, but only compelled to give back his possessions to the state for a sufficient 
compensation. 

Such a restoration of the property in the land to the community, moreover, 
even if we leave entirely out of consideration all social reasons or scruples of jus- 
tice, is an economical or political necessity, and therefore cannot be avoided at 
last in spite of all resistance. For the more the population increases, the more 
necessary does it become to obtain from the existing soil the utmost that it is 
capable of furnishing both in quantity and kind. It can, therefore, no longer be 
left to the individual possessor of a piece of ground to decide whether and how 
far he will make it capable of bearing, but, as we have said, in the interest of the 
community as much must be got out of it as it is capable of producing. This, 
however, can of course only be done by cultivation on the large scale carried on, 
on the principles of scientific agriculture, and by rendering every spot of earth 
capable of cultivation in accordance with its position and nature, whilst private 
possession acts in this respect quite arbitrarily and often very irrationally. Thus 
in England great stretches of cultivable land are either left entirely unemployed 
by their possessors or converted into meadows, parks, race-courses, grand gar- 
dens, &c, which serve only for the gratification of individuals, but by no means 
for the general benefit* ; and the same thing occurs everywhere, although not to 
so great an extent as in England. 

Whether the state or community itself will undertake the cultivation of the soil 
or leave it, under certain guarantees and regulations, to agricultural societies, to 
the country communities, or, by agreement, to private individuals, is a question 
of secondary importance, which will probably be settled in different ways in differ- 
ent places in accordance with the conditions of the country. 

The land-question has, as is well-known, become most pressing in the country 

* The county of Sutherland contains more than a million acres of land which 
belong to two owners, and of which only 23,000 acres are under cultivation. The 
English Lords prefer making sheep-runs, hunting grounds or enormous parks 
out of cultivable soil. 



334 APPENDIX. 

of political freedom, England, in consequence of the peculiar conditions of the 
possession of land, and here the agitation in favor of community in possession of 
land or at least for a thorough-going reform of the existing state of things has 
already made itself felt and obtained many adherents. According to Radenhausen 
(/si's, Vol. III., p. 354), land-slavery in England has been one of the principal 
means of making the high nobility enormously rich, whilst, on the other hand, it 
has placed the greatest difficulties in the way of the agricultural improvement of 
the soil, which is so necessary. 

Ground rents appear to be most unjust when they are produced by simple in- 
crease of the population and the augmented value of landed property caused 
thereby. This is most striking in and near large, growing cities, where pieces of 
land, which were previously almost of no value, often become real gold-fields 
within a short time. This kind of rent or augmentation of property is evidently 
produced without any assistance from the individual, merely by the industry and 
activity of the community, which nevertheless leaves this result of its industry to 
the individual owner of the property without any deduction. Here, even without 
the introduction of communistic possession of the soil, the community even now, 
by suitable taxation, might be made at least a joint proprietor of the benefit 
created by itself. 

(47) This proposition is very different from that which has also been made of 
a total abolition of the right of inheritance ; an abolition which must cause such 
a profound alteration of all social conditions, that its sudden introduction cannot 
be imagined except by means of the most reckless power. Social reforms cannot, 
like political ones, be suddejily organized, since for their introduction a certain 
agreement of public opinion or of the classes of society is absolutely necessary. 
But it is exactly in this respect that the proposed method of a limitation of the 
right of inheritance particularly recommends itself to notice, as it is one that con- 
ducts quite gradually from the present social state to a better one, without dis- 
turbing any one in his possessions during his life, and may be increased or made 
more energetic according to circumstances. As a principle the limitation of the 
right of inheritance has long been recognized in the form of the succession and 
legacy duties which have probably been introduced in all countries ; and in point 
of fact no juster and less pressing duty can be imagined than the duty on inherit- 
ances, especially when these are indirect. The individual has acquired what he 
possesses in and with the aid of the community, and it must therefore be 
regarded only as just and equitable, that after his death he should be compelled 
to give up to the community a portion of what he has acquired and can no longer 
make use of ! Arbitrary or absurd legacies, such, for instance, as that of the 
rich Englishman who left his whole property to a lady with whom he had not the 
slightest acquaintance, simply from his admiration for her beautiful nose, or lega- 
cies to very distant lateral lines who are not in want of them, would of course 
meet with as little toleration on the part of the state, as the enormous private 
properties, maintained by constant inheritance, which constitute a state within 
the state, a power of money within the power of the state, and exert both on their 
possessors and on their families an unnatural influence injurious to the welfare of 
the community. The place of the former aristocracy of birth has been gradually 
taken by an aristocracy of wealth, which at least is as strongly opposed to demo- 



APPENDIX. 335 

cratic principles and good taste, as the former, and hereafter, if a barrier is not 
raised against it, will acquire a constantly increasing preponderance. 

It may, indeed, be objected that great properties generally split up or become 
divided among several distinct branches by inheritance. Nevertheless experience 
teaches that great wealth is generally maintained in individual families (to which 
the circumstance that the rich always marry among the rich may essentially con- 
tribute) ; and on the other hand, great properties often collect by inheritance in 
individual hands, by the flowing together of many sources from various sides. 
The presumptive heirs of great wealth are generally regarded by most people 
with quite different eyes from ordinary men, and indeed nearly as beings of a 
higher kind ; they have the privilege of being stupid, lazy, rude, presumptuous, 
and even uncultivated, without losing much respect ; for one is certain that they 
will one day easily compensate for all these deficiencies by their wealth, and in 
spite of them take a prominent and influential position in Society. They also 
generally do not regard it as their duty to learn or do much, or to be very just in 
their other duties to Society, as they are usually quite sure of their advantageous 
lot without any exertion of their own. 

In concluding this note it may be remarked, moreover, that the prohibition of 
the right of possession and inheritance is by no means a discovery of modern 
times, but is already thousands of years old. At the most different times intelli- 
gent and right-thinking men have proposed or introduced regulations leading 
towards it. See upon this subject Radenhausen's Ists (Band III., pp. 376 et 
segq.), where it is demonstrated that at various periods attacks have been made 
on behalf of the common weal upon the right of possession and inheritance. 
Moreover, it must not be forgotten that even under present conditions in the 
State, the community, the family, unions, &c, we already possess an infinity of 
communistic arrangements, all of which, if the Manchester-theory were correct, 
ought to be got rid of and left solely to private activity, which is almost always 
insufficient. 

(48) The desolate condition of descendants incapable of ii.neritance and left 
solely to public beneficence by the death, age or illness of their supporter forms 
one of the most crying and obstinate of social evils. It is true, indeed, that pri- 
vately by means of committees and benefit secieties, as well as by the numerous 
life assurance offices, and publicly by means of parochial and other arrange- 
ments, the misery thus produced is as far as possible counteracted. But every 
one who has attained even a little insight or experience in these matters is well 
aware how insufficient and defective all these arrangements are, what danger of 
loss there is in them, and how they leave one in the lurch precisely in the worst 
cases. The object would be attained quite differently and better if the state or 
the community were to take charge over these natural cares and to a certain extent 
form a great and universal mutual assurance institution, under which innocent 
destitution would be an impossibility. The contribution which every individual 
gives towards the burdens of the state, or the taxes, would of course have to be 
increased in such a measure as would cover the expenses thus arising ; but the 
obligatory contribution of all (each individual according to his powers or the 
amount of his income) would probably make the increase very small. It is im- 
possible that a community ordered upon humane principles should tolerate that 



336 APPENDIX. 

the invalids of labor, as they may be called, after having devoted their whole 
life and their powers to the service and purposes of this community, should when 
old or sick be compelled to want or even to die of hunger, or that their unen- 
dowed descendants, children, women, &c, should be pitilessly flung into the arms 
of wan distress. The poor's rates and other arrangements for the relief of the . 
poor at present existing do not generally fulfill the purpose for which they were 
intended, and are often better fitted to develop ragamuffins and idle paupers or 
to help beggary, than to relieve real and innocent poverty. Nor can they prevent 
the most terrible and heart-breaking scenes of social misery, slow starvation, des- 
perate suicides, &c, from taking place almost daily in the midst of a society 
which is rolling in superfluity. 

(49) It is mere nonsense to reject the assistance of the state upon principles and 
arguments derived from the nature of the state itself, as Wackernagel, for ex- 
ample, has done, in his essay against Lassalle. The state is not, as the present 
Bourgeois-party think in their stupidity, merely a mutual law and protection 
office, but only the external form within which the great advances in civilization of 
mankind have to be performed. Everything therefore is an object of the state 
which promises to advance the intellectual or corporeal happiness and comfort of 
the citizens, its individual members, and which the majority of these citizens re- 
gards at any given moment as serviceable to the common welfare. Men without 
state are inconceivable ; hence we cannot separate the individuals from the idea 
of the state and consider them without reference to it. They are men in our sense 
of the word only by their living together with other men in a political union, and 
the latter itself changes in its nature every moment with the changing necessities 
or degrees of cultivation of those of whom it is composed. In this sense State-aid 
is nothing more than the assistance which the community offers to the individual, 
and the more extensively this is done the more will the great objects of humanity 
and Manhood be attained. Hence state-aid itself is not in question, but only the 
mode in which it shall be exerted. All disputes about the nature and purpose of 
the State become unnecessary as soon as the principle of the sovereignty 0/ the 
people is fully recognized, and it is admitted that everything must be law that the 
majority of the people will. The individual freedom of which the adherents of 
the Bourgeois-State speak so much, really exists only on paper, because so long 
as social equality does not exist it becomes force and club-law in opposition to 
those who are least favored. Of what use to the poor workman is the power of 
moving about freely, when he finds the same misery wherever he goes ? Of 
what use is freedom of trade to him when he must everywhere work only for 
those who alone have the instruments of production in their hands ? Where is the 
individual freedom of all those poor people or workmen whom we can at any 
moment throw upon the streets and consign to the extreme of want, by depriving 
them of their scanty employment ? Freedom of labor, which the opponents of 
State-aid and the defenders of the Bourgeois-state praise so highly, is in fact at- 
tained by State-aid or the assistance of the less-favored by the community, so that 
every honest, healthy man who is willing to work will find it possible to earn his 
independent existence by work, and not always to serve as the slave of others. 
If it depended only upon freedom of labor in the liberalistic sense or the removal 
of political hindrances which narrow this freedom, England and America would 



APPENDIX. 337 

necessarily be the most blessed countries in the world, whilst in reality the work- 
men there have exactly the same and in part still greater grievances than in other 
countries, and in the former country the social contradictions and injustices are 
greater and more monstrous than anywhere else. Here and everywhere, if things 
continue as they are and industry on a large scale continues to overgrow small 
businesses in the same proportion as hitherto, it will finally come to pass that 
there will be only one God with unlimited power in the world, namely, Mammon, 
or property, money ; and human society will consist only of a small number of 
millionaires or great capitalists and an enormous army of proletaires, — the latter 
apparently existing solely for the purpose of consuming their lives in the service 
of the former. 

(50) The evident decline of our Universities or High Schools as seminaries of 
free and independent science, which has been increasing from year to year and is 
pretty generally admitted, is due to a series of causes, of which the following are 
among the principal :— - 

1. The pressure exerted by the existing government upon the teachers or es- 
tablished representatives of science in the Universities, which renders it more or 
less impossible for the individual to teach anything which is in opposition to the 
views or necessities of the Government and its generally reactionary endeavors. 
By this means a checking bridle is put upon every new and suggestive investiga- 
tion, and an almost insuperable obstacle is opposed to everything that rises above 
the ordinary level. Men who form the ornaments of science and who will shine 
upon future generations as stars of the first magnitude, are hunted or juggled 
away from the universities in consequence of this system ; whilst men of small 
intellects and narrow minded pedlars of scientific details usurp the lofty thrones 
from which the light of enlightenment and intelligence should shine down upon 
the nation. If we add to this the incredible diffusion of ch'quisjn in our High 
Schools, the bad payment, the mean and dishonoring hunting after hearers or stu- 
dents, the depressed position of the private tutors, the submissive feeling of all 
those who hope for advancement or increase of pay, and many other things, we 
shall easily understand what must become of science under such circumstances 
and in such hands, and what would long since have become of it, if it did not 
bear in itself a force of attraction and elevation which nothing can destroy. 

2. The extraordinary universalization of culture, which draws the means of 
culture and in part the interest in culture away from the universities, which are 
usually situated in small and imperfectly developed towns, and towards the great 
central points of intercourse, the populous cities containing a numerous and in- 
telligent population. In many of these cities (for example, in Frankfort on the 
Main) more is often done, merely by private activity, for science and scientific de- 
velopment, than in the actual seminaries destined for that purpose and supported 
by the state a s well as by old donations and privileges. 

3. The antiquated form or constitution of our Universities, derived from the 
middle ages and contrasting with the whole spirit of modern times, which exerts 
the most unfavorable influence not only upon the teachers, but also, and almost 
more, upon the taught, producing the absurd, renommistic, ragamuffin student- 
life, with its innumerable barbarisms, injury to character and health, squandered 
powers, &c. 



338 APPENDIX. 

4. The extraordinarily advanced importance and increase of printed books 
which conveys to the public all scientific and literary productions and all intel- 
lectual creations, much better, more easily and more quickly 'than could be done 
by the Universities which were formerly to a certain extent regarded as individual 
central suns of cultivation. Nowadays we can iearn nearly every thing from 
books, and often better than by oral intercourse with teachers ; and only the 
practical branches of knowledge depending upon inspection, observation and ex- 
periment, constitute, to a certain degree, an exception. But often enough the 
oral discourse of the University teacher is nothing more than a tedious repetition 
from some Compendium or Textbook compiled by himself or by others. 

5. The general materialistic Tendency of the times, which has extended even 
to the higher affairs of education and causes only those branches of knowledge to 
appear of importance and use which, as Schiller says, look like milking cows 
capable of supplying butter. All the higher and highest, truly humanistic studies 
are thus pushed into a corner and so neglected that we can hardly blame any one 
if he turns his powers and efforts towards other objects. And nevertheless the 
necessity for a purely human or universal University-culture, without any con- 
sideration of the purposes of any calling, is at present stronger and more pressing 
than ever, because there are a great number of young people belonging to the 
higher mercantile or industrial station, who do not intend to adopt a learned ca- 
reer and yet imperatively need such culture. At our present Universities which 
almost entirely devote themselves to the purposes of the learned callings, and 
whose lists of lectures put forth in the public journals as regards humanistic 
studies, in general only effect a pleasant delusion of themselves and others, they 
cannot attain this object, and they either do not visit them at all, or pass the 
time destined for that purpose in trifling pursuits. What we require at present 
above all, therefore, especially in Germany, is the establishment of a few High 
Schools or Universities which would leave entirely out of consideration all learned 
professions and only cultivate a general course of study, developing the mind in 
the various principal branches of knowledge. As a matter of course these institu- 
tions must be free from all governmental or other influence, and must furnish 
free space for every philosophical or other line of thought so far as it moves 
within scientific bounds. These free Universities, moreover, would not only bene- 
fit the unlearned callings, but also the learned professions, for which they would 
form an admirable and really indispensably necessary preparation. 

(51) The diminution of the daily period of labor and the establishment of a 
normal working-day of from 8 to 10 hours by the state is one of the most justifi- 
able requirements of the working class, and one which will certainly in time be 
fulfilled. If the German workingmen who for the last nine years have spent 
their force in the Lassallean agitation for universal suffrage and state-help, which 
are perfectly useless under present circumstances and have not advanced one 
hair's breadth nearer to their object, had selected this requirement as the subject 
of their agitation, they would by this time probably have been further advanced 
than they are at present. It is true that the opponents of an abridged term of 
labor assert that the workmen would not occupy those hours which would thus 
be set free for them in useful or improving occupations, but pass them in the 
public house. With some exceptions this may be correct so long as the present 



APPENDIX. 339 

rudeness and want of cultivation, which stand in necessary connection with the 
position in life of the workman, continues. But it will be otherwise as soon as 
the workman is differently educated and cultivated, and as soon as he can see 
that there is a possibility in his future life of giving a further development to the 
foundations thus laid, whilst under present circumstances we can scarcely blame 
him, if he seeks to forget in sensual enjoyments his unfortunate and unimprovable 
position during the few minutes of his daily freedom. The objections raised 
from the economical point of view also do not seem to be tenable, seeing that by 
the better preservation of the power and good will to work, more may generally 
be done in a shorter time of labor than in a longer one, which produces dejection 
and laxity, and permanently exhausts the powers by excessive effort and the want 
of recreation. 

(52) One of the principal sources of good actions, especially as regards our be- 
havior towards our fellow men, is pity. But at the bottom even this highest of 
all noble sentiments is nothing but the efflux of a refined egotism. For when we 
see a fellow man suffering we immediately put ourselves in imagination in the 
place of the sufferer and ask ourselves what would be our own feelings if we 
should be assisted or neglected by others. The disagreeable sentiment, of the 
imagined helplessness in ourselves becomes immediately converted into the agree- 
able one of aid conferred and liberation from a depressed position as soon as we 
have actually given our assistance to the sufferer. Of course this presupposes a 
certain development of the powers of sentiment and imagination in which rude 
nations or individuals are more or less deficient ; this want of the sentiment of 
pity renders them cruel and spiteful towards their fellow man, whilst the opposite 
character is produced by higher cultivation of the mind and heart. Moreover, we 
act well, as regards our behavior towards mankind in general, out of considera- 
tion for our own weal or advantage, for our good fame, our social position, &c, 
as well as out of respect for the laws and fear of punishment, whilst all these 
motives would fall away as soon as, being merely limited to ourselves, we could 
follow our own egotistical impulses, just as the animals do. It is only his social 
relations, considerations of the common weal and the conviction that it is his duty 
to act for humanity to which the individual is indebted for everything that makes 
man a man, and renders him that moral being which the moralists and theolo- 
logians imagine him to have been created at the beginning. Even the wickedness 
which is the source of all bad actions towards our fellow men, just as pity is the 
source of all our good ones, depends ultimately upon a want of recognition of 
this relation and is therefore finally, like everything evil, a product of want of 
cultivation and ignorance. Even moral indifference, or the mere abstaining from 
bad actions towards our fellow men, depends ultimately upon an egotism refined 
by culture, inasmuch as we partially feel the evil that we inflict, or think to inflict 
upon others, in consequence of the process of thought above described, as if it 
were inflicted, or to be inflicted upon ourselves and abstain from the action in 
order to escape from this disagreeable feeling. 




CHIMPANZEE. 




BORNEAN ORANG. 



NDEX. 



Abbeville, 35, 39 

Abel, Dr 311 

Abipoias, 321 

Abraham, 65 

Achilles, 66 

Adam, the Biblical, 293 

Adam and Eve, 162 

Agassiz, Prof. 55, 126, 135 

Ajetas, 316, 323 

Albinus, 42 

Alexandria, Library of, 265 

Algodon Bay, 79 

Alluvial period, 34, 61, 

Alluvial soil, 89 

Alluvium, 34, 278, 283 

America, 286, 330 

Amiens, 35, 39, 283 

Anatomy, Comparative, 301 

Andrias Scheuchzeri, 278 

Antediluvian, 278 

Anthropini, 104, 294 

Anthropoids, or Anthropoid 
Apes, 107, 108, 150, 163, 295, 303 

Ants, agricultural, 170 

Ape-man, 298, 300 

Arabs, 160, 264 



Archeucephala, 118 

Archaic, Vic. d' 85 

Archaeology, 67, 99 

Arcy, Cave of 46 

Argylle, Duke of 318 

Aristotle, 267 

Aryan race, 65, 153, 160, 261, 287 

Assier, d' 318, 323 

Associations, productive, 227 

Aurignac, Cave of, 30, 39, 73, 278 

Aurochs, 47, 48, 85, 279 

Australians, 159, 169, 286, 287, 288 
292, 308, 323 

Av6-Lallemant, Dr 317 

Aymard, Dr 44 

Babylon, 66, 284 

Baer, K. E. von 124, 125, 306 

Baker, Sir S 168 

Baltic Sea, 58 

Baltzer, Prof. 293 

Bastain, A 311 

Battel A 295, 296 

Beaumont, Elie de 47 

Beddoe, 289 

Bird, Dr 75 



342 



INDEX. 



Berkeley, Bishop 269 

Bertrand, 282 

Bibra, Baron von 79 

Bimana, in, 294 

Bingmann, Dr 312 

Bischoff, Wilhelm 322 

Blake, Dr. C. C 77, 309 

Bleek, J 174, 178, 181, 289 

Blumenbach, 294 

Boerlage, Dr 312 

Borneo, Aborigines of 168, 296, 297 

Borre by Skull 74, 78, 145 

Botocudos, 317, 323 

Boucher de Perthes 35, 36, 37, 40 
44, 67 

Boue, Ami 44 

Bourgeois, Abbe 52, 63 

Bourgeoisie, 332 

Bowdich, 296 

Bowker, Dr 289, 290 

Brain, 117, 118, 119, 130, 188, 193 

302, 327, 328 

Brain in women, 246, 247 

Branchial arches and clefts, 133 

Braun, J 285 

Brazil, 69, 292 

Brehm, 312 

Broca, Prof. 43, 55, 72, 80, 101, 119 

283, 287, 301 

Bronze, 81 

Bronze-Age, 81, 288 

Bronze-weapons 281 

Bruniquel, Cave of 49 

Buckland, 31 

Bundehesch, 93 

Buddhism, 264 

Buffon, 109, 184, 296, 311 

Burmeister, 54,306 

Burnouf, 261 

Busch, M 330 

Caesar, 58 



Cagliari, 55 

Cahibes, 317 

Caithness, ;... 58, 69, 75 

Camper, P 108, 296, 304 

Cannibals, 287, 289, 290 

Canstatt, Skull 46, 74 

Capercailzie, 281 

Capital, 221 — 224 

Capital, premium on 227 

Capitalistic mode, production 226 

Carus, Dr 305 

Carver, John 30, 112 

Casiano de Prado, 41 

Castelnau, 74 

Catarrhini, 104, 106, 107, 150, 157 

Cats tongues, 42 

Caves, 25, 47, 87, 289 

Caves, Belgian, 73, 87, 289 

Cave-epochs, 46, 289 

Cell-nucleus, cell-membrane, 127 

Celts, 59, 75, 287 

Celts (Instruments) 35, 89 

Celtic period, 89 

Centralism, 202 

Chaillu, Du 299, 312, 314, 323 

Chaleux, Cave of 288, 290 

Chartres, 52 

Chimpanzee, 104, 107, 113, 119 

153, 295, 297, 311 

China, 261 

Chinese, 65, 153, 168, 170, 193 

Chorda, 130, 131 

Christianity, 164, 263, 264, 265 

Christol, 31 

Christy, 46, 49, 80, 261 

Claparede, 177 

Clothing, use of 322 

Cocchi, Prof. 46, 76 

Coccyx, 46, 76, 132 

Colle del Vento, 46 

Comte, A 308 

Commodus, 265 



INDEX. 



343 



Communes, Free 203 

Communism, 211, 331 

Community of Goods,.... 203, 331 

Conscience, innate, 256 

Conscience, public 259 

Copernicus and his system ... 19 

Copper, 82 

Copper age 82, 83 

Cotta, E 177, 330 

Cotteswold Hills... 75 

Counting, Art of. 169 

Crime and criminals 238 

Cuvier, 33, 35, 113, 294, 

3°4, 305, 3°9 

Darwin, C....20, 117, 121, 137, 
141, 142, 186, 190, 250, 294, 318 

David, 255 

Davis, 77 

Death, 269 

Decaisne, 47 

Delaunay, 53 

Delanoue, 283 

Deluge...... 65, 277 

Desnoyers, 51, 52, 63, 289 

Desor, 291 

Destiny of man, 285 

Development, process of 182 

Developmental history, ... 99, 221 

Digger Indians, 317 

Diluvial animals 47, 51, 289 

Diluvial period, 27, 42, 68, 71 

Diluvium, 278, 283 

Discoplacentalia, 105 

Dumont d'Urville, 280 

Dupont, E. 73, 146, 289, 290, 323 

Dog, 281 

Dog, Prairie, 169 

Dokos, 168, 170, 314 

Dolmen 59, 90, 282 

Domestic animals, 87, 89 

Dowler, Dr 55 



Eccarius, 226 

Eucador, 59 

Education, 237 — 240 

Education, religious, 263 

Egg, Animal and human, 123, 

124, 127, 128 

Egotism, 211, 257, 339 

Eguisheim, 279 

Egypt 66, 67, 155, 284, 285 

Egyptian Chronology, 283 — 285 

Eichthal, 313 

Emancipation of women, 249 

Embryo, embryonal cells, 124, 128 

Embryology, 121 

Engihoul, Cave of 288 

Engis, Skull from, 46, 288 

England, 286, 287 

Eocene, 64, 162 

Epicurian philosophy, 94 

Epicurus, 326 

Epigenesis, theory of. 125 

Equality, 207 

Eschricht, 78 

Eskimos, ?88 

Essenes, 263 

Estate, fifth 228 

Evolution, theory of 125 

Facial angle, 108, 304 

Family, 232 — 236 

Faudel, Dr 279 

Federalism, 202 

Fire, use of 93, 170, 292 

Fire, worship of 93 

Flint, 37, 291 

Flint axes, Diluvial, 35, 39, 

142, 283, 364 
Flint implements and their 

period, 38, 80, 81, 83 

Florence, 46 

Florida, 55 

Forchhammer, 57 



344 



INDEX. 



Ford, A 299 

Fossils, 278 

Fraas, Prof. 287, 291 

Frankfort, 337 

Freethinkers, 273 

Frere, John, 41 

Frere, Abb6 74 

Frontal, Cave of , 73, 290 

Fuegians, 318 

Fuhlrott, D 31, 45, 76, 77 

Future of man, 181, 184 

Gainmard 93 

Galen, 112 

Galileo, '. 20 

Gaudry, A 36 

Gemmation, ..... 304 

Genealogy of the human race 101 

Geneva, 61, 279 

Geoffroy, E no 

Geoffroy, St. Hilaire, no, 311 

Gera, *.- 31 

Germ-cell, ..........; 121 

Germ4amellae, 129 

Germinal vesicle, 124, 127 

Germinal spot, 124, 127 

Giants, 281 

Giants' graves, 281, 282 

Gibbon, 107, 296 

Giebel, Prof. 108, 131 

Glacial period, 55, 62, 277, 282, 291 

Gleisberg, P. 291 

Gobineau, Count, 264 

God, Idea of 169 

God, belief in, ........169, 307 

Goethe, 20, 133, 261 

Golden age,... ...... 82 

Gorilla, 104, 106, 107, 109, 131, 

. 154, 296, 300, 303 

Gosse, ;........ 40 

Government, ................ 200, 203 

Grant, J — 310 



Gratiolet, Prof. 302 

Grimm, Jacob, 101, 324 

Ground-rent, 215, 333, 334 

Haeckel,Prof. 18, 19, 106, 137, 

141, 175, 294, 304, 305, 328 

Halifax, Nova Scotia, 58 

Halitherium, 53 

Hanno, 109 

Happelius, 42 

Hebrews, 284 

Hecataeus of Miletus, 65 

Hegel, . 267 

Heinzen, Karl, 227 

Heliogabalus, 265 

Helvetius, 267 

Hermaphrodites, 305 

Herodotus, 83, 280, 285 

Hindoos, 160 

Hippocrates, 280 

Hochdal, ... 76 

Homer, 66 

Hooker, Dr 282 

Horace, 94 

Hoxne, 41 

Huangti, 65 

Hiigel, Baron, 316 

Hunt, James, 183 

Huxley,... Prof. 15, 76, 77, 78, 
97, 102, 103, 104, 105,, 106, 
107, 109, 113, 120, 124, 128, 
126, 134, 137, 143, 156, 159, 
161, 250, 294, 296, 302, 307, 308 
Hyrtl, Prof. 114 

Idealism, 272 

Implements, use of,... 321 

India, aborigines of. .... 315 

Inheritance, 334 

Inheritance, Limitation of the 

right of, 216 

Inquisitors, 256 



INDEX. 



345 



Intermaxillaries, 133 

Invalids of labor, 336 

Iowa, 30 

Ipswich, 46 

Iranian traditions, 93 

Iron-age, 81, 281 

Issel, A 46, 53 

Jackson, J. W 190 

Jaeger„Dr 46, 174, 175 

Jawbone of La Naulette, 147, 308 
Jawbone, Moulin Quignon, 43, 147 

Jawbone of Hyeres 148 

Jesus or Joshua, 263 

Jews, 65, 92, 160, 168, 309 

Joly, Prof. 5°, 9 8 

Journal, 31 

Julian, 265 

Jura, 61 

Kant, 326 

Keller, Dr 280 

Kepler, 20 

Khasias, 282 

Kitchenmiddens 56, 59, 281 

Kivik, Grave of 281 

Kulu-Kamba, 299 

Kunis, K. W 263 

Kutorga, D. 78 

Labor, corporeal and intel- 
lectual, 329 

Labor, division of, 203, 329 

Labor and laborers, 225 — 231 

Labor question, 225 

Lahr, 44 

Laing, 75 

Lake-dwellings, 55, 88, 280 

Lamarck, 141 

Land question in England,... 333 
Lange, F. A. ... 195, 221, 326, 330 
Languages, primitive, 171 



La Naulette, 72, 146 

Laplanders, 73, 281 

Lartet, E 26, 46, 

50, 51, 72, 80, 85, 289 

Lasalle, 225, 227, 228, 231, 336 

Lastic, M. de 49 

Latham, 319 

Latukas, 320, 323 

Laugel, A 15, 35 

Legacy duty 334 

Lemurs, Flying, 104 

Lenormant, F 83 

Les Eyzies, Cave of, ....46, 50, 72 
Lesley, J. P. .71, 292, 293, 300, 325 

Lewald, Fanny, 248, 245 

Leyden, 44 

L'hombrive and L'herm Caves 46 

Linant Bey, 54 

Lincecum, Dr 170 

Linne, 104, 294 

Link, 74, 309 

Lipocerci, 107 

Lisch, Dr 78, 280 

Locke, 325 

Loess of the Rhine, ...44, 279, 283 

Lubbock, Sir John, 38, 41, 

64, 85, 88, 292 

Lucretius Carus, 94 

Lund, Dr 31, 74 

Luther, 19 

Lyell, Sir Charles, 20, 30, 36, 
44, 45,46, 52,61,71, 79, 
80, 95, 96, 280, 283, 285, 288 

Mabillon, 278 

Maestricht, 44 

Magellan, 170 

Malaise, Prof. „ 288 

Mammoth, 51, 279, 282 

Mammoth Cave, 44 

Man, primitive, 90, 286, 287, 293 
Man, antediluvian, 278 



346 



INDEX. 



Man, tailed, 132 

Man, Caucasian, 160 

Man, fossil, 50, 144, 279 

Manchester-men, 216, 237 

Manetho, 283, 284, 285 

Marcus Aurelius, 265 

Mariette, 66, 284, 285 

Markham, C 59 

Marriage, 250 — 253 

Marriage, limitation of 251 

Marrow, 48 

Marsupials, 106, 126 

Mastodon, 44, 282 

Materialism, 272, 338 

Materialism and Idealism, 272-274 

Materialists, 273, 326 

Mayence, 280 

Mayer, Dr 302 

Mazurier, 278 

Medullary tube 130 

Megalony, 44 

Memphis, 66 

Menes, 67 

Mexico, 266 

Meyer, Dr. P 77, 300 

Microcephali, 138 

Milk-dentition of man, 134 

Milton, 95 

Mincopies, 322 

Minsk, Skull from, 78 

Miocene, 64, 157, 162 

Mississippi Delta, 44, 56 

Mississippi Valley, 56 

Modera, in 

Modesty, 169 

Money-Aristocracy, 218 

Monotheism, 265 

Monsters, 163 

Morals, 254 — 259 

Morals, innate, 255 

Morlot, 55, 279 

Mortillet, G. de 47, 51, 80 



Moses, 115 

Moulin Ouignon, Jaw from 43, 147 

Mounds, American, 56 

Miiller, Dr 297 

Namur, 73 

Natches, fossil from, 44 

Nationalities 204 — 205 

Naulette, la, Cave of, 308 

Navel, 162 

Neanderthal man, 46, 72, 

• 75, 77, 145 
Neanderthal skull, 75, 76, 279, 

288, 304 
Negroes, 72, 139, 153, 154, 

159, !7o, 3°4, 3°8 

Neolithic period, 85, 88 

Nepotism, 233 

New Orleans, 55 

Newton, 20 

Obongos, 314 

Oemingen, 278 

Oken, L 125, 142 

Oldfield, 321 

Olympiads, 64 

Orang-utan, 107, 154, 296,309 

Origin of the human race, 

101, 181, 285 

Osars, 55, 282 

Ovary, 128 

Over-population, dread of 252, 253 
Owen, Prof. R. 113, 118, 296, 

300, 301, 304, 322 

Owen, B 69, 75, 312 

Oysters, 57, 58 

Pacific Railway, 190 

Palaeolithic period, 85 

Pantheism, 261 

Parthenogenesis, 305 

Pascal, 101 



INDEX. 



347 



Paulinism, 263 

Peat-mosses of Denmark and 

Iceland, 56, 280 

Perigord, Caves of, . .. 46, 72, 289 

Perty, Prof. 21 

Peruvian Skulls, 79 

Petrinism, 263 

Phalanstere 330 

Philippines, Aborigines of the 

315, 316 

Philosophy, 267 — 271 

Phoenicians, 115, 169, 170 

Physiology, Comparative, 115 

Pictet, Prof. 34 

Piddington, 316 

Pile-buildings, 55, 85, 280, 282, 288 

Pity, 339 

Placental Mammals, 105 

Plau, Skull from, 78 

Plato, ." 267 

Platyrrhini, 105, 106, 107, 108, 

150, 294 

Pliocene, 46, 64, 157, 162 

Pohl, 330 

Polishing of stone implements 89 

Polytheism, 265 

Pongo, 295 

Ponzi, 46 

Poor's rates, etc 336 

Popular education, 237 

Popular government, 217 

Portland, Isle of, 74 

Post carriages and roads, — 84 

Postdiluvian, 277 

Pottery, 70, 88, 89 

Pouchet, G no, in, 151, 

161, 169, 301, 319, 323 

Prairie-Dog, 169 

Prestwich, J 36 

Priesthood among the Aryans 261 
Primaeval time of man, 282, 286 
Primates, 104, 105, 106, 294 



Primitive groove, 129 

Primitive man, progress of, 79, 90 

Printing, importance of, 388 

Procopius, 48 

' Productive Associations, 227 

Prognothism 147 

Prosimiae, 104, 105 

Pruner-Bey, 77, 148, 286 

Purchas, 295 

Pyramids, 66 

Quadrumana, 294 

Quatrefages, Prof. 52, 95, no, in 
Quenstedt 46 

Races of man, 193, 194, 309 

Radenhausen, 181, 241, 270, 

33i, 334 

Railways, 84 

Rainey, Dr 332 

Reichenbach, Dr 140 

Reindeer, 8, 289 

Reindeer period, 51, 72, 87, 88 

Reindeer man, 87, 88, 290 

Religion, 260 — 266 

Renan, E 261, 284 

Renevier, Prof. 85 

Revolution, Social, 332 

Richthofen, 266 

Rigollot, 36 

Robert, Eugene, , 47 

Rochas, M. von 313 

Rolle, F 162, 283 

Rolleston, Prof. .»...., 302 

Rosiere, M 54 

Ross, John 318 

Royer, Clemence, 324 

Sacrifices, Human, 281 

Sahara, 62 

Sai'miri, 108 

Salles, Comte de 95 



348 



INDEX. 



Sanscrit, 261 

Savage, Dr 296, 298 

Savona, 46, 53 

Schaaffhausen, Prof. 15, 18, 
25, 45. 50, 76, 77, 78, 135, 
137, 154, 155, 181, 267, 
287, 300, 305, 308, 319, 322 

Scherzer, 56, 108 

Scheuchzer, Prof. 108, 278 

Scheurer-Kestner, Prof. 279 

Schiller, 30, 338 

Schleicher, Prof. A 153, 324 

Schlotheim, Baron von 31, 74 

Schmerling, Dr 31, 74, 288 

Schmitz, Otto 300, 318 

Schonen-island 281 

Schopenhauer, 270 

Schultze-Delitzsch, 230, 231 

Schussenquelle, 88, 291 

Schwaan, Grave at 78 

Schweichel, R 287 

Scrithifinns, 48 

Self-help, 229 

Senses, deceptibility of, 326 

Shakers 330 

Shell-mounds, 58, 69 

Shetland islands, 75 

Silver-age, 82 

Skulls, ancient, 73 

Slavery, social, 214 

Smart, J. W 74 

Society, 206 — 220 

Soleure 61 

Somme river, 35, 283 

Somme valley, 39, 283 

Souls of animals, 166 

Sovereignty of the people, ... 336 

Sparsiplacentalia, 105 

Speech, articulate, 171 

Speech, faculty of, 302 

Speech, origin of 172, 173 

Species, idea of 300 



Spiegel, Prof. 66, 93 

Spring, Dr 74, 28S 

Squier, M 56 

Stability, 90 

State, 201, 203 

State-aid 229, 336 

State-factories, 228 

Steenstrup, Prof. 57, 280 

St. Hilaire, Barth. ... 294, 311, 320 

Stockholm, 81, 84 

Stone age, 282, 288, 289 

Stonehenge, 282 

Stone-implements, 86, 287 

Stone-industry 69 

Stone-tables, 57, 282 

Strabo, 66 

Struggle for advantageous 

position, 195 

Struggle for existence in man 

and animals 194, 213 

Struggle for existence, social 

186, 187 

Suffrage, female, 248 

Suhle, Baron, 267, 268 

Suicide, 170 

Suicide in Children, 234 

Sweden, 47 

Switzerland, 151, 202, 280, 

282, 288, 291 

Tacitus, 83 

Tail, 132 

Tail-born in man, 132 

Tasmanians, 159, 313 

Termites 169 

Tertiary period, 63, 64, 68, 

105, 157, 282 

Turtullian 266 

Teufelskammer, — 45 

Thames, River, 61 

Thebes, 66, 285 

Thenay, 53 



INDEX. 



349 



Thiantihoei, 331 

Thomassen, S3 

Thunder-bolts, 42 

Tierra del Fuego, 69, 318 

Tiniere, cone of the, 279 

Titicaca-race, 79 

Titicaca-skull, 79 

Toltecs, 56 

Trojan war, 64 

Troyon 85, 280 

Tulpius, 295 

Tumuli, 281 

Tuttle, 324 

Tyson, Dr 295 

Unity of the human race, 152 

Universities, decay of, 337 

Urus, 48, 58 

Vertebrae, primitive 131, 161, 301 

Vesalius, 112 

Vibraye, Marquis de,...46, 72, 326 

Villeneuve, 55 

Virchow, Prof. 82, 280 

Vitellus, 37, 41, 46, 49 

Vogt, Carl, ....52, 85, 87, 283, 
137, 155, 163, 280, 
286, 288, 293, 306, 326 

Wackernagel, 336 

Wages-system, 228 



Wagner, M 280, 317 

Wagner, R 77, 284, 303, 317 

Wallace, A. R. 165, 190, 191, 310 

Wallace, E 64 

Watervleit, 330 

Weissbach, Dr 107 

Welker, Prof. 163, 303 

Westphalia, Caves of 50, 300 

Westropp, 86, 88, 171 

Whateley, Archbishop, 292 

Wickedness, 339 

William the Conqueror, 83 

Wilson, Prof. D 75, 286 

Wolf, C. F 125 

Woman, 241 — 249 

Work-givers and work-takers 226 

Worsaae, Prof. 57 

Writing, Art of 68 

Writing, origin of, 176 

Wurmb, Baron von 296 



Xerxes, 



83 



Yao, 65 

Yelk, 122 

Yvan, Dr 310 



Zillah, Dr 316 

Zonoplacentalia, 105 

Zoroaster, 264 



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" As Rochefoucauld his maxims drew 
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FAWCETT'S AGNOSTICISM 

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SALTUS' ANATOMY OF NEGATION. 

Intended to convey a tableau of anti-Theism from Kapila to Leconte 
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Saltus' Philosophy of Disenchantment. 

A critical examination of the Pessimistic Philosophy of Shopenhauer. 
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"ght ^xtxjeral ©lassixs, (&0. xcg 




THE 



POSITIVE PHILOSOPHY 

OF 

AUGUSTE COMTE. 

TB.R'NSXiRT'E.D BY ^RBBIBTY 'M.ElB t YI"K.B\R.'U. 

WITH PORTRAIT AND FACSIMILE OF AUTOGRAPH. 

One volume, royal 8vo, 838 pp., gilt top and side stamp, cloth, $4.00. 



" A work of profound science, and conspicuous for the highest at- 
tributes of intellectual power." — Sir David Brewster. 

"We have no hesitation in recording our conviction that Comte's 
Positive Philosophy is the greatest work of our century." — Lewes' 's 
Biographical History of Philosophy. 

" A work which I hold to be far the greatest yet produced in the 
Philosophy of the Sciences. "-—Mill's System of Logic. 



SUNDAY 

UNDER THREE HEADS 





AS SABBATH BILLS WOULD MAKE IT. 




AS IT MIGHT BE MADE. 
BY 

CHARLES DICKENS, 

(timothy sparks.) 

One volume, with portrait. Illustrated by ' 'Phiz. ' ' Paper 25c. , clo. 50c. 



The idea of " making a man truly moral through the ministry of 
constables, and sincerely religious under the influence of penalties," 
seemed so incongruous and absurd to Charles Dickens — the true 
and sympathetic friend of the toiling masses — that he was induced to 
write in their behalf, in his remarkably unique and inimitable style, 
this eloquent protest against religious intolerance — this trenchent 
argument in favor of personal liberty — liberty to enjoy respite from 
the carking cares of every-day life, — even if this liberty should be 
enjoyed on the Szm-day. — the day known to the ancient Pagan 
idolaters as the " Venerable day of the Sun." — Preface. 



SEP IL-h , ^ 



